Jul 24 1975
From The Space Library
The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported out H.R. 8070, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development-Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 1976.
The committee appropriation allowed for no new starts but did permit an increase of $400 million in funding for the Space Shuttle. The committee supported manned NASA activities such as an international cooperative space-docking mission built on the successes of Apollo and Skylab programs, and the development of the Space Shuttle as an economical, versatile transportation system to give a wide variety of users access to space. The committee also endorsed a space science flight program furthering knowledge of the earth, atmosphere, moon, sun, planets, interplanetary space, and stars; a research and development program to identify and demonstrate useful applications of space techniques in areas such as weather and climate, pollution monitoring, earth-resources survey, earth and ocean physics, communications, and space processing; U.S. leadership in aeronautics and space programs; worldwide tracking and data acquisition support for NASA's manned and unmanned programs; a program to assist in the development of national energy self-sufficiency; and a technology utilization program to speed dissemination of technological and engineering information gained during NASA programs to government, industry, and other users.
The committee restored $48.4 million for the two-spacecraft Pioneer- Venus mission scheduled for launch in 1978; the House had cut the funds requested by NASA in the original budget. The Senate agreed with NASA that the project had high scientific priority, and that delaying it to a less opportune launch window when Venus was further from the earth would require redesign of the spacecraft and would cost $50 million more than originally planned.
The committee also restored $1 million cut by the House from the $5 million requested for definition studies and advanced technological development of the Large Space Telescope. The study was necessary for NASA to define an optimum design at minimum cost.
The committee added $7 million to the $7 million NASA request for research and development to help understand and monitor physical and chemical processes in the upper atmosphere, emphasizing the need for studies of the depletion of stratospheric ozone.
Because some committee members had had reservations about the high cost and safety hazards of the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the committee said it would like to be notified well in advance of any future joint space mission to permit an accurate assessment of potential benefits and costs.
The committee's recommendation of $82.1 million for construction of facilities, $25 million less than the request, would allow continuation of previous work including Space Shuttle facilities, facility rehabilitation and modification and minor construction, and facility planning and design. Not only did the committee, agreeing with the House action, cut the $2.5 million requested for an addition to the Lunar-Sample Curatorial Facility at Johnson Space Center, it also agreed with the House in denying funds to modify the 40- by 80-ft wind tunnel at Ames Research Center-not included in the original request but authorized by Congress-until the committee had had an opportunity to review the necessary funding in a formal budget request.
The recommendation of $775.5 million for research and program management, the same amount approved by the House, was $0.5 million less than NASA's request. The reduction reflected a 10% cut in General Services Administration rental charges.
The Senate committee recommended a total of $925 028 000 in funds for the transitional period 1 July- 30 Sept. 1976.
Recommended funding was $33 872 000 below the total budget request and $122 111 less than the authorization. (Sen Com Rpt 94326; Budget Chron Hist FY 1976, NASA Off of Budget Operations, 16 June 75)
"We have just witnessed another flawless Apollo splashdown and the successful completion of the world's first international [manned] spaceflight," Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, said at an ASTP postrecovery press briefing. "At this time it is difficult, if not impossible, to assess the full significance of the ASTP mission, or even its ultimate influence on international affairs." However, "to a world beset by tension and suspicion it must, indeed, be a heartening sign to see Russians and Americans cheering each other.... By going into space together, we have shown a sometimes skeptical world that perhaps there is a real chance of world unity." (ASTP Transcript PC-55)
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project reflected the "progress made in the relations between our two nations and ... the successes of the policy of peaceful coexistence, and promotes a further improvement of the international situation, and the strengthening of mutually rewarding contacts," Acting President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences Vladimir Kotelnikov said at a press briefing.
General Vladimir Shatalov, head of cosmonaut training, told the newsmen, "While placing great emphasis on the importance of this joint flight, the Soviet Union also attaches great importance to its national space program, which at present centers on the establishment of long term manned orbital stations of the Salyut type." He said that the success of ASTP along with that of Salyut 4 "testifies to the maturity of the Soviet space program, to the fact that it is able to man and launch several spacecraft at the same time and control their flight." ASTP cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, who had been promoted from Soviet Air Force colonel to major general, said he had thought language would be the biggest problem during the joint session but "we understood each other very well." He added, "we didn't have problems during our joint operation." When asked about future joint projects, Willis Shapley, NASA Associate Deputy Administrator, said, "For the future 1 see accomplishments in two directions.... On one hand we must jointly plan and execute further joint technical projects. At the same time we must further develop the areas of political understanding and cooperation between our two countries.... Preliminary discussions are already underway between specialists... from both sides." (Soyuz crew press conf. transcript, Apollo news center, Houston, 24 July 75)
Walter Cronkite, U.S. broadcaster who had covered the space program from its beginnings to date, reminisced about the space program during an interview with Kennedy Space Center's Spaceport News. Cronkite recalled that news coverage in the early 1950s was done from the beach with very little official information. "All we had were tips from engineers and others we met in bars." By Alan B. Shepard's 5 May 1961 launch, things had improved only slightly; coverage took place from the back of a station wagon with a microphone, monitor, and very little incoming information. Later launches had seen drastic changes. "We've got so much information today that it's the traffic cops' job to take care of the flow, whereas before it was more imagination and fill-in-the-blanks:" Asked if he would be interested in riding aboard the Space Shuttle, Cronkite said, "I think newsmen will go on the Shuttle.... Just as soon as we prove out the equipment.... I would guess that somehow or other we're going to see that a pool man gets aboard, and I hope it's me.
Regarding the apparent apathy of the American public toward the space program, Cronkite stated that it would be difficult in this age to sustain the "high intensity of feeling about the space program, the race to the moon, [and] landing on the moon.... We don't have an attention span in the modern world, with so much going on, that permits us to remain at that high level of excitement." (Spaceport News, 24 July 75, 6)
A terrestrial solar-energy recording system now installed at Marshall Space Flight Center would provide accurate data on sunfall for use in developing solar-energy measuring systems, MSFC announced. Designed and built by International Business Machines Corp. as part of the center's earth-based solar-power activities, the monitor would use a sun tracker and stationary sensors to measure and record solar energy. The 203-cm by 178-cm instrument included a pyrheliometer to measure energy coming directly from the solar disc and 2 pyranometers to measure direct and scattered energy from any direction in its hemispheric field of view. The system could also evaluate the ability of developmental devices to convert or reflect solar energy. Collected data were recorded on tape for computer analysis. (MSFC Release 75-168)
NASA announced completion at Lewis Research Center of one of the largest indoor echo-free chambers in the U.S. The 1416-cu m chamber-called the Engine Fan and Jet Noise Facility-would aid the center's research into jet-aircraft noise by permitting engineers to test noise characteristics of quiet fans for advanced aircraft engines and to evaluate new ways of reducing the rumble of jet nozzles. All surfaces of the 16-m wide, 17-m long, 5-m high facility had been treated with anechoic (echo-free) 76-cm fiberglass wedges that absorb sound. Acoustic tests had shown that the facility could absorb essentially all the sound in the region of interest for aircraft-engine fan models up to 51 cm in diameter, or jet nozzles up to 10 cm in diameter. Engineers could study noise coming from either the front or the rear of the fan. The facility's control room was linked directly to LeRC's central computer, permitting instant analysis of much of the data. (NASA Release 75-212)
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