Feb 5 1985
From The Space Library
Langley Research Center announced that John Langford of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would speak February 11 on the MIT Monarch, a human-powered aircraft that had won first prize May 11, 1984, in the Kremer World Speed Competition.
An all-volunteer team had designed and built the craft in 88 days during the summer of 1983 and had flown it 29 times before disassembling it. With an improved version, the team had made 35 flights in spring 1984, culminating in the record flight.
Langford would discuss design consideration and construction details of the Monarch, including propulsion and avionics. (LaRC Release 85-5)
In a speech today to the Washington chapter of the National Security Industrial Association, NASA Administrator James Beggs addressed the issue of NASA's role in assisting the Department of Defense (DOD) in national defense. After touching on the media attention given the recent secret launch of a military payload, Beggs said the fuss "stemmed, I believe, from a misapprehension that the nation's civilian space program was about to be taken over by the military. As one news organization put it sternly: 'The line is being crossed.' "Well, let me set the record straight;' he continued. "Nothing could be further from the truth. On the last mission we did what we always try to do. And that is to satisfy our commercial customers, be they civilian or military." Beggs went on to trace the history of U.S. military aeronautical developments and pointed out that many of the early astronauts were former military pilots and that almost 100 military detailees worked at NASA, mostly at Johnson Space Center (JSC). He also referred to other shared assets, including the KSC launch facilities, and to the aerospace technology that the military employed, practically all of which stemmed from a NASA-developed technology base.
Beggs concluded by saying NASA and DOD's Space Shuttle program cooperative efforts began in 1969 and that DOD had priority on the Space Shuttle manifest for missions of national security. "Our challenge is to continue to work together to secure our future, on earth and in space." (NASA Release 85-18)
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