Apr 6 1978
From The Space Library
Mechanical failures during tests of the Space Shuttle main engines had threatened to delay the whole program, although the first orbital launch had been scheduled for next year, Av Wk and Nature reported. Turbine blades in the engine's high-pressure fuel pump had failed in 3 separate tests: twice the blades fractured or cracked, the third time a fire that followed the malfunction destroyed the evidence. Dr. Robert Frosch, NASA administrator, said that the setbacks had not lessened agency confidence in the basic engine design and that the Space Shuttle program should proceed on schedule; however, he admitted that chances of launching the first manned orbital flight in Mar. 1979 were "considerably less than 50-50." A committee from the Natl. Research Council had begun in Jan. to assess the nature of engine failures and related problems, and to advise NASA and the U.S. Senate subcommittee on science, technology, and space on the engine-development program, according to the NRC News Report. The study centered on the safety and reliability of the engines and had included evaluation of engine design, materials, fabrication, and testing. The Senate subcommittee had requested a report of the study in time to use it in considering NASA's authorization request for FY79. (Nature, Apr 6/78, 482; Av Wk, Apr 3/78, 18; NRC News Report, Apr 78, 1)
The People's Republic of China had announced an 8yr crash plan to catch up with the rest of the world in scientific research, Nature reported. Vice-Premier Fang Yi told 6000 delegates to the All-Nations Science Conference in Peking that China had lagged 15 to 20yr behind the West in many branches of science and still more in others; the program would narrow the gap in some areas to 10yr by 1985, and would help in overtaking the rest of the world in all branches of science by the end of the century. The article said that China had planned to begin production of fast-mainframe computers and to establish a strong computer network and data base by 1985, with extra attention to peripherals, software, and associated areas of applied mathematics. PRC would devote its efforts to basic space physics, cosmic rays, and technical problems of remote sensing, and planned to launch a series of Skylabs and deep-space and communications satellites within 8yr. (Nature, April 6/78, 482)
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
