344 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Would wc be leading the world in space if we had followed this kind of approach 

 that you are really now recommending for our country for the next decade? 



In presenting the NASA authorization bill to the House on March 

 28, 1979, Fuqua reviewed the accomplishments of the Earth resources 

 satellites (Landsats). He also called attention to the achievements, 

 past, present and future, of the Voyager and Pioneer interplanetary- 

 spacecraft with relation to Jupiter and Saturn. But he pointed out that 

 the value of NASA's 1979 effort in constant 1968 dollars had sagged to 

 $1,653 million — less than 50 percent of the 1968 buying power. 



Aside from a brief skirmish over NASA funding of supersonic 

 research, there was little opposition to the NASA authorization in 

 1979- The house rejected by 246-137 the perennial effort of Representa- 

 tive Ted Weiss (Democrat of New York) to cut the NASA effort by 

 $23 million for supersonic research. Then the House passed the bill on 

 March 28 by a 323-57 vote. The conference report, adopted by the 

 House on July 27, 1979, also supported two initiatives by the House: 

 — The addition of $2 million, which had been cut out by OMB, to 



initiate development of a "Multi-Spectral Resources Sample" — 



an advanced remote sensor instrument for improved resolution and 



higher reliability. 

 — The addition of $4 million to start development of a National 



Oceanic Satellite System. 



During May and June 1979, the subcommittee held a series of 

 hearings on Fuqua's bill to establish a Space Industrialization Corpora- 

 tion. In opening the hearings, Fuqua defined the objective of his bill: 



To provide a means for financing the development of new products, processes, 

 and industries using the properties of the space environment. 



In the hearings, the subcommittee examined a number of issues asso- 

 ciated with the prospects for commercial ventures in space, the role of 

 the Federal Government, and the appropriate mechanism for fostering 

 cooperation with the private sector. 



TRACKING AND DATA ACQUISITION 



From 1970 to 1974, jurisdiction over the tracking network was 

 handled by the Subcommittee on Advanced Research and Technology 

 (later renamed "Aeronautics and Space Technology"), and after 1975 

 jurisdiction passed to the Subcommittee on Space Science and 

 Applications. 



In reviewing the tracking network budget, which amounted to 

 approximately $300 million annually, the subcommittees through 

 oversight and field visits attempted to ascertain how a greater degree 

 of efficiency could be instilled into the NASA operation. Most of the 

 top officials administering the tracking network were veterans of long 



