264 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



printed pages, which Hechler said had "broken all records for a 

 massive statement before the committee," Stoller devoted a fleeting 

 quarter of a page to what he termed "industrial applications." In 

 terms which could hardly be termed ringingly enthusiastic, Stoller 

 mumbled: 



Many industrial firms normally will not be exposed to the new developments in 

 space technology in the course of their routine operations. However, NASA's pro- 

 gram will be generating much in the way of new technical capability which all 

 commercial organizations should have an opportunity to evaluate and use. 



Many committee members continued to pressure NASA to take a 

 more aggressive role in making space benefits available to both in- 

 dustrial and other users. As a result, in 1963, Dr. Seamans announced 

 to the subcommittee that Dr. George L. Simpson had been named 

 Assistant Administrator for Technology Utilization and Policy 

 Planning with a responsibility for public information, data storage 

 and retrieval, educational programs and industrial applications. 

 Simpson himself was a good public relations man, and he pleased the 

 committee with his opening statement: 



NASA is committed to a hard-driving effort to transfer the useful fruits of our 

 research and development effort to the private sector of the economy in as quick and 

 as useful a way as possible. 



Although the subcommittee and full committee, supported by the 

 House, annually attempted to raise the authorization for technology 

 utilization, Congress never seemed to be able to instill in NASA the 

 same enthusiasm which the committee felt for the value of the pro- 

 gram. At a time in the midsixties when NASA's total expenditures 

 soared over $5 billion, NASA was still budgeting only $5 million — 

 less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total budget — to technology 

 utilization. The committee also found it very distressing that the 

 average Administrator of Technology Utilization stayed in office about 

 one year. 



Despite these handicaps, the technology utilization program began 

 turning out a vast number of "Tech Briefs" to alert industrial users of 

 available products developed through the space program — products 

 like aluminized mylar, developed originally as reflectors for satellites, 

 used for jackets, parkas, blankets and sleeping bags; a lightweight 

 fireman's air tank and breathing system based on technology developed 

 for astronauts' equipment; tiny television transmitters which could be 

 swallowed in a capsule and used to examine the stomach; and exotic 

 lubricants developed to withstand extreme temperatures on the Moon. 



