Dec 29 1967

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NASA announced personnel changes, effective Jan. 1, 1968. Adm. W. F. Boone (USN, Ret.), Assistant Administrator for Defense Affairs, would retire after five years of service with NASA. He would continue to serve as a part-time consultant. Functions of Admiral Boone's office would be included in new Office of Department of Defense and Interagency Affairs, headed by Gen. Jacob E. Smart (USAF, Ret.). Gen. Smart, Assistant Administrator for Policy, would be replaced by Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology Dr. Alfred J. Eggers, who would also continue as a Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator on aerospace safety. NASA Administrator James E. Webb, expressing his appreciation for Admiral Boone's service, praised the "effective cooperation developed between [DOD] and NASA in the . . . buildup . . . of large launch vehicles and spacecraft required for a lunar landing and exploration . . . in large measure due to his leadership. . . ." (NASA Release 67-314)

ERC Director James C. Elms announced appointment of Dr. Richard M. Head, Manager of ERC's Aeronautics Programs Office, as ERC Chief Scientist. In his new position Dr. Head's responsibilities would include research in ERC aeronautics and space programs and on solar flares. (ERC Release 67-44)

Univ. of Brussels glaciologist Dr. Edgard E. Picciotto was shipping four tons of snow from Plateau Station in Antarctica to Brussels for analyses to determine chemistry and rate of fall of microscopic dust particles from space. Study, supported by NSF, would be conducted in cooperation with Ohio State Univ. and Belgian Atomic Center. Since the Antarctic snow was not contaminated by urban air pollution and never melted, extraterrestrial dust remained lodged as it fell in layers of snow. Plateau Station area, Dr. Picciotto said, was "the only place on earth you can retrieve atmospheric precipitation from before the industrial revolution and the atomic bombs." Ideally, the dust should have been collected in space, but space collection was too expensive and would be contaminated by spacecraft. Dr. Picciotto would extrapolate annual worldwide total from fallout rate at Plateau Station. Preliminary results suggested a 100,000-ton annual worldwide rate. (Reinhold, NYT, 1/9/68,4)

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