May 6 1975
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President Ford announced the recipients of the 1974 Presidential Management Improvement Awards, given annually as the highest recognition for outstanding contributions in improving the effectiveness and economy of government operations. Among the recipients was NASA's Mariner-Venus 1973 management team at NASA Headquarters and-Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (PD, 12 May 75, 504)
Détente, while relaxing tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union, had produced "a technology drain from the United States to the Soviet Union that has cost the United States millions of dollars, thousands of jobs and some valuable scientific secrets," Jack Anderson and Les Whitten reported in a Washington Post article. Soviet technology, which lagged years behind the U.S. in fields including computers and space science, had little to offer and much to gain from the technological exchange. With official government encouragement U.S. firms had exported or were planning to export millions of dollars worth of technical information and products including aircraft and advanced computers.
Anderson and Whitten reported that the Soviets often put finished products to military use. They were using détente and some advanced U.S. computers to catch up in their 10-yr lag behind the U.S. in computer science, a key to the U.S.'s overall technological superiority. One U.S. firm, Control Data Corp., had signed preliminary agreements to help the Soviet Union build plants to manufacture computers and peripheral equipment.
The Soviets were also eager to catch up with the U.S. in the production of wide-bodied jets. Holding out possible contracts, the U.S.S.R. had obtained detailed plans for wide-bodied jets from Boeing Co., Lockheed Aircraft Corp., and McDonnell Douglas Corp. (Anderson et al., W Post, 6 May 75, B13)
Astronomers in the People's Republic of China said they had discovered two minor planets between Mars and Pluto, reported a British press delegation visiting Nanking Observatory. The press quoted the Chinese as saying that the planets, observed in January, were rarely visible because of their position in the solar system. The Chinese had named the planets Purple Mountain One and Purple Mountain Two, for the name of the mountain on which the Nanking Observatory was located. (Reuter, W Post, 7 May 75)
Rockwell International Corp., holder of the prime contract with NASA to build the Space Shuttle Orbiter, announced that more than $109 million in subcontracts for the Space Shuttle main engine had been awarded by the Rocketdyne Div. since work on the engine began 3 yr ago. Figures to date showed that firms in 40 states were participating in the Space Shuttle program.
Rockwell reported that Space Shuttle development would funnel an estimated $5 billion into the U.S. economy by 1978 and create employment for approximately 50 000 workers. (Rockwell Int'l Release RO-9)
Canada would develop the remote' manipulator system (RMS) for NASA's Space Shuttle to permit astronauts inside the Shuttle Orbiter to deploy or retrieve payloads in space, NASA announced. Canada would fund the $30 million project, providing the first flight unit to NASA without charge in 1979. Canada would also supply flight units for follow-on Orbiters. Costs for these units would not include charges for Canada's research and development. (NASA Release 75-135)
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