Nov 18 1975
From The Space Library
NASA expected to add 3800 contractor personnel in FY 1976, mostly for the Space Shuttle, NASA Comptroller William E. Lilly told a joint session of the House Subcommittees on Space Science and Applications and on Aviation and- Transportation R&D. However, overall employment on the space program had been forecast down 68%, or 278 000 workers, from its peak of 409 000 in 1965. NASA would lose 17 more Federal positions in FY 1976 after losing 521 Federal employees in FY 1975. NASA is paying more for fewer employees, Lilly pointed out, because agency manpower expenses go up about $6 million a year, offset by only $1 million in replacing retired workers with new workers in lower grades. Total Federal employment at NASA had hit a high of 33 924 in 1966; NASA Federal employees now numbered 24 316. (Transcript, Vol I Part l, 995, 1024, 1031)
Boeing Co., which had a 44-mo $3-million subcontract from Rockwell to detect electrical problems with the Space Shuttle, reported that 35 design or hardware changes had been necessary in main-engine electrical circuits of the Shuttle so far. Boeing was conducting a sneak circuit analysis of the first Shuttle orbiter, to be used for approach and landing tests; later studies were scheduled for the second orbiter, the Solid Rocket Booster, and the external fuel tank, as well as critical ground-support equipment. (SBD, 18 Nov 75, 92)
At least five of NASA's 25 000 employees had made use in past years of hunting facilities owned by Rockwell International, and the agency and Sen. William Proxmire (D- Wis.) had begun investigating the matter. The investigation had not been confined to entertainment at the Rockwell facility in Md., but included "receipt of other gratuities such as Redskin (football) tickets and use of hospitality suites," the senator said. Rockwell had been prime contractor for the $6.4-billion Space Shuttle program that accounted for more than a third of NASA's budget. Sen. Proxmire, vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Defense Production, had directed the committee staff to assist NASA in determining the full extent of "unethical or illegal lobbying by NASA contractors." NASA had placed five inspectors on the case. (NYT, 19 Nov 75, 1)
INTELSAT had awarded a 15-mo $60 000 contract to EIC Inc. of Newton, Mass., to develop improved hydrogen electrodes and separators for use in nickel-hydrogen cells in communication-satellite batteries.
NiH batteries would provide improved reliability and weight-to-power ratios over nickel-cadmium batteries now in use. (INTELSAT Release 75-19)
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