Apr 2 1973
From The Space Library
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator. testified on NASA's role in supersonic transport aircraft development before the House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development-Space-Science-Veterans during FY 1974 appropriation hearings: "I don't think we can turn our back on supersonic technology. This is a fact of life. Military planes are flying supersonically in this country; SSTs are flying in Europe and Russia. We can not just say we don't want to build a transport ourselves and therefore we should turn off all technology in this area. What we are doing in NASA is trying to address ourselves to the main problems with supersonic flight. both military and civilian. The main problems include the economic factors involved. the pollution of the stratosphere. and the noise." NASA was the only agency qualified to investigate these problems but "I do think that the Congress has responsibility to determine any future development of a supersonic transport in this country. at least as far as the Government's support of such a program, and it is not our intention to in any way change that decision.” (Transcript)
NASA released to industry a request for proposals for design. development, and production of the space shuttle external tank. Invited to bid were McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., Boeing Co., Chrysler Corp., and Martin Marietta Corp.'s Aerospace Div. (NASA Release 73-64)
New York advertising art director Richard Kline had stumbled on a radically new concept in aerodynamics while designing paper airplanes for his son. Time magazine reported. Wind-tunnel tests had confirmed that Kline's wing would greatly resist stalling. Instead of being curved like most airfoils. the wing was flat on top and. from the leading edge. the cross-section gradually thickened into a wedge. The underside swept abruptly forward. Tests had shown that the wing could provide lift even when tilted at 19°, when conventional wings lost their lift and caused stalls. (Time, 4/2/73)
Sir Geoffrey E. Knight, Vice Chairman of British Aircraft Corp., and Henri Ziegler, President of Aerospatiale, had received the 1973 Tony Janus Award for "significant contribution in the field of commercial aviation" for developing the Anglo-French Concorde, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. (Av Wk, 4/2/73, 11)
The National Science Foundation released Resources for Scientific Activities at Universities and Colleges, 1971 (NSF 72-315). Scientists in research and development declined 1% per year between 1969 and 1971 from an annual growth rate of 6% from 1965 to 1969. Teaching staff growth rate remained at about 10% per year 1965-1971. R&D scientists dropped from 26% of the total teaching staff in 1965 to 20% in 1971. The increase of graduate students working on R&D projects fell from an annual rate of 8% 1965-1969 to 2% 1969-1971. Science expenditures in 1970 totaled $7.9 billion-an increase of 6% per year over the $7.0 billion in 1968. The 1964-1968 annual growth rate was 15%. Federal financing of R&D leveled off to a 3% increase per year in 1968 to 1970, but recent data indicated a higher rate of increase in Federal obligations to colleges and universities for FY 1972 and FY 1973. (Text)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
