Feb 3 1975
From The Space Library
President Ford sent a $349.4 billion FY 1976 budget request to Congress, an increase of $45.0 billion over the FY 1975 request. The recommended deficit of $51.9 billion was a peaCETIme record high designed to help revive the Nation's sagging economy. In his budget message to Congress, the President said that his recommendations provided for fiscal policy actions to increase purchasing power and stimulate economic revival; a major new energy program to hold down energy use, accelerate development of domestic energy resources, and promote energy research and development; an increase in outlays for defense to maintain preparedness and preserve force levels in the face of rising costs; a 1-yr moratorium on new Federal spending programs other than energy; and a temporary 5% ceiling on increases in pay for Federal employees and on individual benefits tied to changes in consumer prices. Proposals included a one-time $16-billion tax cut- $12 billion for individual taxpayers and $4 billion for business-to stimulate economic recovery.
Energy: The President specifically requested that no new Federal spending programs be initiated in FY 1976 except in the field of energy, which had a total recommended budget authority set at $2.491 billion. Federal energy functions were divided into three broad categories: general operating programs (analysis and development of energy policy), regulatory programs, and research and development programs. General operating programs, with a recommended budget authority of $548 million, would be administered by the Federal Energy Administration (FEA), Dept. of the Interior, and the new Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). Federal energy regulation, with a recommended budget authority of $178 million, was managed by FEA, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and Federal Power Commission. Although the new budget called for support from NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for energy R&D, ERDA would have the major responsibility.
The proposed energy program called for an increased fee on imported oil and an excise tax on domestically produced petroleum and natural gas. The proposal also called for decontrol of oil prices--coupled with a windfall profits tax-and deregulation of prices on new natural gas.
The Federal government had further expanded its research and development program to provide new and improved technologies necessary to increase domestic energy resources. Outlays for energy R&D would be $1.7 billion in FY 1976, an increase of 36% over FY 1975 and 102% over 1974. Budget recommendations continued a vigorous nuclear R&D program and accelerated non-nuclear energy R&D, particularly in coal and solar energy.
General Science and Technology. Requested funding totaling $4.686 billion for general science, space, and technology-not including energy or Dept. of Defense programs-was highlighted by the buildup in the development and production of the Space Shuttle; continued development of spacecraft to explore the sun, planets, and universe; continued research, development, and experimentation in the application of space technology for surveying natural resources and improving weather forecasting; and increased support for basic science.
Agencies receiving the major portions of the general science, space, and technology funds were NASA, NSF, ERDA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Geological Survey.
Air Transportation and Nonmilitary Aeronautical Research: In the field of transportation, for which the recommended FY 1976 budget authority was $5.568 billion, air transportation accounted for $2.660 billion. The Administration would propose major legislation in aviation development, and revenues providing for continued long-term Federal development of the airway system, substantial restructuring of the airport grant program, and more equitable structuring of air transportation user fees.
NASA would spend $316 million in FY 1976 on its broad program of research and technology to support civilian and military aeronautical objectives. Major aims of the program: to reduce aircraft noise and exhaust pollution, reduce fuel consumption, and improve aircraft. performance, reliability, and safety.
Defense Procurement: Out of a total FY 1976 recommended defense procurement budget authority of $24.420 billion, $8.015 billion was designated for aircraft and $3.306 billion was designated for missiles.
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, released the budget statement he had given at a 1 Feb. press briefing. The FY 1976 NASA budget called for the authorization of $3.539 billion and net outlays of $3.498 billion or the 12-mo period beginning 1 July, and additional amounts of $958.9 million in authorizations and $905.6 in net outlays for the 3-mo transition period beginning 1 July 1976.
Dr. Fletcher said the new budget was "lean but manageable." For the first time since 1961 the budget provided no new program starts. In accordance with President Ford's request to hold FY 1975 and FY 1976 expenditures to a minimum, NASA, in FY 1975, had deferred obligations of $72 million and outlays of $70 million, reduced civil service employment by 300, and made program adjustments to stay within the total FY 1975 and 1976 budgets. Further adjustments might be necessary if the inflation rate continued to grow, Although NASA's FY 1976 budget was up $300 million from the previous year, $200 million of this increase was specifically anticipated in last year's budget to carry forward commitments built into programs approved in FY 1975. Therefore, NASA had received an effective increase of only $100 million, or about 3%. This, along with the nation's current 9% inflation rate, was a "good indicator of the leanness of NASA's FY 1976 budget." The budget would permit NASA to proceed with current major programs as planned: The Space Shuttle, scheduled for a first manned orbital flight in mid-1979, and Landsat- C, scheduled for a fall 1977 launch, would continue on schedule. Reduction of fuel use in aircraft remained a principal focus in NASA's aeronautics research and technology. NASA was also continuing stratospheric studies, including the effects of pollutants on the environment, with significant contributions coming from NASA meteorological and atmospheric satellites, sounding rockets, and balloons and high-flying aircraft.
Although there would be no new starts, NASA would continue its study and advanced technical development for science, applications, and aeronautics projects to be started in future years, including preliminary work for payloads to fly on the Space Shuttle and Spacelab.
The 1975 calendar year launch schedule was one of the most ambitious in U.S. history with 28 launches scheduled, including the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July and the two Viking missions to Mars scheduled for August.
Although NASA's legal responsibilities for energy research and development-designated under the Solar Heating and Cooling Act of 1974-had been transferred to the Energy Research and Development Administration, NASA would work closely with ERDA in various aspects of solar research and development.
Dr. George M. Low, NASA Deputy Administrator, said at the press briefing that the largest budget increase was for manned spaceflight, where the increase for the Shuttle was partially offset by reduced spending for the rest of manned spaceflight. The small increase for space science did not tell the whole story: If funds for the Viking program were subtracted, the budget for the rest of science had increased $170 million from FY 1974 to FY 1976. Although applications, aeronautics, and space technology programs each showed small increases, funds for tracking and data acquisition decreased slightly despite increased maintenance costs for tracking stations, because NASA was beginning to close down tracking stations, preparing for the time when tracking and data relay satellites would be available.
William E. Lilly, NASA Comptroller, said that, of the $84.6 million budgeted for construction of facilities, $47.2 million was to continue the buildup of Space Shuttle facilities, mostly for launch and landing facilities at Kennedy Space Center. The remaining funds were for normal rehabilitation and modification of existing facilities, with smaller amounts for minor construction and for facilities planning and design.
Civil service manpower was expected to continue at the same level for FY 1976 with 24 316 employees. However, the number of support service contractors-excluding mission or stage contractors-would decrease from 18 637 in FY 1975 to 17 811 in FY 1976. The estimated 125 000 persons working on NASA programs during FY 1975 was expected to increase by 6000 to 7000 by the end of FY 1976.
Distribution of funds to the Centers would change: An increase of $224.3 million would go to Johnson Space Center for the Shuttle program. A decrease of $37.3 million for KSC reflected a decrease in funding for the construction program. Goddard Space Flight Center was down $32.6 million, largely because of a decrease in funding for Delta vehicles. (OMB, Budget of U.S. Govt., FY 76 and Appendix; NASA FY 76 budget briefing, 1 Feb 76, transcript; NASA Release, FY 76 budget briefing background material; Fletcher budget statement, 3 Feb 76, text)
The Federal Council for Science and Technology, a committee of officials representing major research and development agencies, released "Report on the Federal R&D Program-FY 1976," a summary of 17 R&D agencies' efforts in applying science and technology to national issues. The report stated that the FY 1976 budget included $21 billion for R&D programs, a 15% increase over the FY 1975 R&D budget of $18.8 billion. Of this, approximately $7.4 billion was planned for civilian programs including energy, health, education, agriculture, environment, urban problems, and transportation. Approximately one-fourth the civilian R&D budget was planned for energy, with the largest share of that-$1.55 million-going to the Energy 'Research and Development Administration. Nine other government agencies would receive increases in R&D budgets, with NASA's FY 1976 budget estimate increasing to $3.539 billion, up from $3.231 billion in FY 1975, an increase of more than $300 million. Space R&D would continue with projects to explore Mars, Venus, and outer planets, as well as the sun. Satellites 'would continue to be used for earth resources asseSSMEnt, weather prediction, and surveys of potential geothermal energy sources.
The Federal Aviation Administration would receive increases for air traffic safety, and Dept. of Defense increases would support development of the B-1 manned strategic aircraft, Trident missile systems, and Navy and Air Force air combat fighters. (Text; OMB, Budget of the U.S. Govt., FY 1976)
NASA management had permitted inflight use of "undesirable components" in the electrical system of the Thor-Delta launch vehicle to preserve the program's schedule, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. At least two Thor-Deltas had been launched with the same electrical-system contamination failure potential that "probably caused the loss" of the U.K.'s Skynet II a military communications satellite 18 Jan. 1974. Av Wk reported that, although NASA officials considered the policy undesirable, they had used the components until they could be recycled or replaced, in the belief that the risk had been acceptable. On 18 Dec. 1974 the French-West German Symphonie 1 was almost lost when an apparent electrical contamination problem occurred in the Thor-Delta s second stage. Av Wk said that Symphonie program management had not been aware of the vehicle's electrical-system failure potential. (Av Wk, 3 Feb 75, 44)
A 9.6-gram finely powdered lunar sample arrived at Marshall Space Flight Center where scientists would measure in a vacuum the sample's thermal conductivity, a fundamental property governing heat flow through the surface of the moon. The data, correlated with data obtained from previous studies on simulated lunar samples, would be used to develop a thermophysical model of the moon, helping scientists better to understand the moon's origin, history, and relationship to the earth. (MSFC Release 75-41)
Kennedy Space Center awarded a $79 991 contract to the Univ. of Florida's Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences for research on freeze-temperature prediction. Under the terms of the contract, a follow-on of a 1973 contract to study the feasibility of using remote sensing devices for temperature measurement and evaluation, the Univ. of Florida would receive satellite and aircraft data from KSC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that would provide actual measurements of leaf and ground temperatures at specific times and places. Following calibration, the data would be combined into a temperature-prediction model. Then, using known variables such as current temperature, humidity, time, cloud cover, and wind velocity, the user could accurately forecast where freezing temperatures would occur. (KSC Release 21-75)
3-11 February: A delegation representing the U.S.S.R. Communications Administration met in Washington with representatives of the International Telecommunication Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) to discuss preliminary arrangements for the U.S.S.R. to use INTELSAT satellites for communications between the Soviet Union and the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. According to preliminary agreements, INTELSAT would provide the U.S.S.R. with "occasional use" of space segment capacity in the INTELSAT system for preassigned voice-grade services, television relays, and digital transmission. The U.S.S.R. Communications Administration was constructing an earth station to work with the INTELSAT system beginning in mid-1975. (INTELSAT release, 28 Feb 75)
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