750 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



The subcommittee succeeded in upgrading the status of aeronautics 

 within NASA, and forcing greater emphasis in this area despite de- 

 clining budgets in other areas. 



Although money was the first yardstick the subcommittee applied 

 to the NASA budget to confront the Administrator on why he wasn't 

 spending a greater percentage on aeronautics, the subcommittee went 

 far deeper into specifics. For example, in addition to the emphasis being 

 placed on training more young aeronautical engineers, the subcom- 

 mittee in 1970 added funds for the following: 



Additional work in the area of flight safety, including work on aircraft wake 

 turbulence, clear air turbulence, pilot warning indicators, air crew workload, and 

 reducible noise and pollutants from aircraft engines. 



The year 1970 was not a very good year for aeronautics. The 

 March 1970 report of the subcommittee, to be sure, attracted wide 

 attention and high commendation. But Miller was preoccupied with 

 the intracommittee battle over the Shuttle in 1970 (see chapter VIII). 

 Fortunately, the subcommittee had just completed a thorough set of 

 hearings on aeronautics in December 1969. So when Miller decreed 

 in 1970 that all NASA authorization hearings were to be conducted 

 by the full committee, current data were still within the subcom- 

 mittee's grasp. Nevertheless, aeronautics got the short shrift before 

 the full committee. However, Wydler questioned NASA on the speed 

 with which their aircraft noise research was proceeding, and Gold- 

 water pressed hard for additional details on how a national air trans- 

 portation policy was progressing. After NASA's aeronautical officials 

 had described what NASA was doing at the request of the Department 

 of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, the fol- 

 lowing colloquy occurred: 



Mr. Hechler. Do you think, as long as NASA and FAA are independent agencies, 

 that you can resolve this question by a joint study? Doesn't this require some type of 

 national leadership from the highest level, in order to pull this thing together, and 

 enunciate what the priorities are? 



Dr. Low [NASA Deputy Administrator]. Mr. Hechler, all of my experience tells 

 me that we should be able to do this between the Department of Transportation and 

 NASA. I think we have a good example in the nuclear rocket program, where we 

 are working with another agency, the AEC, and this is moving forward very, very 

 actively. I don't sec why the transportation problem cannot be resolved jointly 

 between DOT and NASA. 



Mr. Hechler. Color me skeptical. 



Mr. Goldwater. If I might just comment on politics, politics is a lot like milking 

 a cow. In order to get something, you have to have a little pull. And I think perhaps 

 Mr. Hechler's observation that we need national, from-the-top leadership, that 

 might help cut through some of the problems that you will encounter between the 

 conflicting interests. 



