INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION, 1959-79 397 



OVERSIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 1970 



In addition to the international work being carried on by the 

 Daddario subcommittee, Chairman Miller decided to use the Oversight 

 Subcommittee as a mechanism through which to carry out some of the 

 necessary international contacts. It was under this aegis in 1970 that 

 staff members Frank R. Hammill, Jr., and W. H. Boone were sent to 

 Bonn, Germany, in July 1970 to attend a briefing by NASA officials at 

 the European Space Conference — a group of European aerospace manu- 

 facturers from different nations. In a formal trip report, as well as 

 personal briefings of the committee on August 6, 1970, Hammill 

 relayed the European apprehensions that plans for the Space Shuttle 

 were "all wrapped up," leaving little room for European participation 

 in the experiments. The report noted that NASA was taking steps to 

 counter these impressions. The discussions in Bonn were the forerunner 

 of many subsequent conferences by the committee with the European 

 Space Research Organization, in preparation for Spacelab — the payload 

 laboratory being planned by ESRO for inclusion on the Space Shuttle. 

 Copies of the observations by Hammill and Boone were immediately 

 forwarded to NASA, receiving this reaction from Frutkin on Septem- 

 ber 8, 1970: 



Both gentlemen have, we think, understood NASA's approach as well as the 

 problems we face on the European side very well indeed. Their travel to Europe was 

 certainly important and constructive in this respect. * * * We are indebted to both 

 Mr. Hammill and Mr. Boone for the care and objectivity of their observations and 

 for allowing us to share them. 



Congressman Karth, accompanied by William G. Wells, Jr., of 

 the staff, visited Venice, Geneva, and Madrid in September 1970, 

 primarily to attend a further meeting of "Eurospace" officials dis- 

 cussing cooperation with U.S. post-Apollo plans through the Space 

 Shuttle. Karth warned the European aerospace representatives sharply 

 against being overly optimistic about American assumption of their 

 costs in participating in the experiments to be flown on the Shuttle. 



FARNBOROUGH AND PARIS AIR SHOWS 



Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, as large groups of Congressmen 

 and staff annually traveled to the Farnborough Air Show in England 

 or the Paris Air Show in France, the committee received some critical 

 correspondence questioning, as one writer did: 



As a taxpayer who helps pay your salary and your travel expenses, may I please 

 have an accounting of just what "business" was conducted on this trip? 





