Sep 25 1969
From The Space Library
Apollo 9 commander James A. McDivitt was appointed Manager of Apollo Spacecraft Program at MSC, replacing George M. Low, who was temporarily on special assignment to MSC Director to plan future MSC programs and work on organizational matters. (MSC Release 69-66)
East Germany's People's Chamber unanimously ratified nuclear nonproliferation treaty. West Germany had not yet signed. (P Inq, 9/25/69)
House Committee on Science and Astronautics reported favorably S. 1287, which authorized appropriations for FYs 1970, 1971, and 1972 for metric system study. (CR, 9/25/69, H8488)
September 25-26: National Seminar for Manned Flight Awareness at MSC attracted some 400 representatives of NASA, DOD, and aerospace industry. MSC Director, Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, said: "I think we are all concerned about the period of letdown which tends to occur after a great milestone such as has just been completed," but NASA "must continue to demonstrate . . . that success can follow success." Lee B. James, Director of Program Management at MSFC, said next moon flights could suffer from lack of proper employee motivation. "We are completing [rocket] stages with welders who know they are going to be laid off." Sheet metal workers in plants with termination papers were working on vital space hardware. Twenty defects attributed to human error had been uncovered in single rocket. Apollo Program Director Rocco Petrone said future moon landings would be even more demanding than first, with astronauts spending 54 hrs on moon during some. To make missions successful, workers must be motivated to pay greatest attention to detail. Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, said NASA hoped to cut payload launch costs to $200 per pound and reduce number of workers on Saturn V launches from 20,000 to about number required to get Boeing 747 off ground. (MSC Release 69-65; Maloney, H Post, 9/26/69)
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