Aug 18 1976
From The Space Library
NASA announced appointment of Jerry Hlass, Director of Space Flight Facilities at NASA Hq, as Manager of the Natl. Space Technology Laboratories at Bay St. Louis, Mo., effective 1 Sept. Hlass came to Hq from GSFC, where he was head of the Data Acquisition Facility Section between 1961 and 1963. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1949 from N.C. State Univ., and a master's in engineering administration from Geo. Washington Univ. in 1971. As manager of NSTL, Hlass would report to the Hq Associate Administrator for Center Operations. (NASA anno. 18 Aug 76; NASA Release 76-147)
Lockheed Aircraft Corp. won a significant contract for construction of 6 new widebody jets when British Airways announced selection of the new long-range TriStar L-1011 for delivery starting in 1979 to replace Boeing 707s and VC- 10s on routes where the older planes were too small but the Boeing 747 was too large. Selection of Lockheed followed an intense competition with McDonnell Douglas over the past 6 wk, in which Lockheed was plagued by questions of finance following its near bankruptcy in 1971 and its role in alleged bribery in the sales of military and commercial planes overseas. Lockheed chairman Robert W. Haack said market research indicated a need for 244 aircraft like the new TriStar by 1985, offering the company improved chances for reestablishing itself in the jetliner field. (NYT, 19 Aug 76, 51; WSJ, 19 Aug 76, 3; W Post, 19 Aug 76, C1 3; C Trib, 19 Aug 76, 4-9)
A federal judge ordered NASA to reinstate with back pay and benefits the federal employees who lost their jobs at Marshall Space Flight Center to private contractors, the Washington Star reported. In a suit filed in 1967 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the AFL-CIO American Federation of Government Employees, the union contended that 22 MSFC contracts with private companies resulted in the layoff of about 3000 federal workers. Judge Joseph Waddy agreed that the contracts were illegal and ordered that federal employees who lost jobs as a result of work going to the private companies should be rehired, and that any similar contracts be canceled. The decision upheld Civil Service Commission standards that forbid a private contractor from assuming an employer-employee relationship over federal workers. NASA attorney Sid Masri said as many as 2000 employees could be terminated as a result of the decision, which NASA was sure to appeal. (W Star, 18 Aug 76, A-2, B-2; WSJ, 19 Aug 76, 17)
U.S. officials reported that Peru planned to buy 36 late-model fighter-bombers from the USSR, a deal that might jeopardize a $200-million short-term loan being negotiated between Peru and a group of U.S. banks. The Soviet Union was said to have offered Peru good terms for a $250-million purchase of 2 squadrons of Sukhoi-22 planes; the price would be paid over 10 yr at 2% annual interest, with a yr of grace. A spokesman for the U.S. banks said they were unaware of the pending deal and could not comment on the effect it might have on the proposed loan, considered essential to enable Peru to pay for a recently expropriated U.S.-owned mining company valued at $100 million; Peru had offered $12 million in compensation. Peru had a foreign debt of about $3.7 billion, one of the highest of any developing nation. U.S. officials said Peru's motive for seeking the fighter-bombers might have been to apply political and military pressure on neighboring Chile, which was dealing with Bolivia to obtain access to the Pacific through territory seized by Chile from Peru in 1883. (NYT, 19 Aug 76, 5)
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