250 "OFFICE TYPE" SPACE, NET SQ FT, IN THOUSANDS 200 techniques to the management functions is a natural extension. At the same time, we are vigorously pursuing the technical goals for which the Center is responsible. In this manner, we shall continue the high level of service to the Nation that Langley has provided during the first 50 years of its existence. Mr. BROWN. You may proceed with your summary. EXISTING "SOUND" BUILDINGS DEFICIENCY STATEMENT OF EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT, DIRECTOR, LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Mr. CORTRIGHT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, although this is my 11th year as a NASA witness, it's my first as a Center Director. I'm pleased to be here, and honored to be representing the OART centers before this subcommittee. NASA's research and development centers, Mr. Chairman, represent its most unique asset and greatest strength. It is their function to generate the ideas, conduct the research, and execute the programs. To do this, they have assembled what is probably the strongest technical team in the Federal Government. This team is backed by an impressive array of facilities and equipment. With its partners in industry, universities, and other Government agencies, it has helped make our country the technological leader of the world. This would not have been possible without your strong support. I think most people accept the necessity for technological leadership, despite our growing concern over social ills. Without it, we would be faced with a still greater array of problems, and our vital capacity to solve them would be eroded. So I am beginning with the assumption that we are all desirous of maintaining the hard-core strength of NASA's research and development centers, regardless of fluctuations in the total program. This will not happen automatically. It requires a conscientious effort on our part and on yours. Today, I'm going to briefly discuss some of our operating practices and problems at the Langley Research Center. Because of a certain commonality of such problems, you may extrapolate them to other centers. Center operations are intimately related to Center programs. Thus, I have had prepared for you a summary volume, "Research in Aeronautics and Space," which describes the what, why, and how of our program. You have been hearing about our program for the last few days, so I will not take the time to discuss it. But I would recommend it for a quick scan. Although I won't have time to review it with you, a quick scan of the table of contents will show a program of great breadth and great importance to this country. Research in all classes of aircraft from helicopters to hypersonic research aircraft is underway (fig. 1). In space (fig. 2), both automated and manned systems are the subject of study, with emphasis on the fundamental engineering technology required to make further advances. Although the emphasis is on fundamentals, the flavor of our research leans toward the practical and applied. We also conduct some major flight projects, such as the completed Lunar Orbiter, and the new Viking project to explore the surface of Mars. This brings me to the main purpose of my visit here today, to discuss the research and program management funds in our budget, Mr. Chairman. The Langley Research Center, located in Hampton, Va., has been in operation since 1917, when it was established as the first national laboratory to conduct basic research in the science of aeronautics. As LOW SPEED • HELICOPTERS - HANDLING QUALITIES, MANEUVERABILITY, EFFICIENCY, VIBRATION, NOISE • V/STOL ⚫ SST AND AMSA - STRUCTURES, MATERIALS, AEROELASTICITY, PROPULSION, NOISE, ADVANCED FIGHTERS - CONFIGURATIONS, MANEUVERABILITY, PROPULSION, STRUCTURES ⚫SPACE STATIONS - CONFIGURATION STUDIES, EXPERIMENT INTEGRATION, POWER, LIFE SUPPORT, MANEUVERING, ATTITUDE CONTROL, SIMULATION ⚫LOGISTIC VEHICLES - REENTRY HEATING AND COMMUNICATIONS, LIFTING REENTRY CAPSULES, LANDING CONCEPTS, MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, REUSABLE SYSTEMS ⚫LUNAR EXPLORATION - LANDING TECHNIQUES, MOBILITY, SHELTERS •PLANETARY EXPLORATION - ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY, PLANETARY EXPERIMENTS, DECELERATORS, LANDING TECHNOLOGY the national program in aeronautics and space evolved, Langley changed, adapting its personnel and its plant to serve new national goals as they became visible. Today Langley is a modern laboratory occupying 773 acres of Government-owned land and representing a plant investment of about $358 million. Our permanent staff numbered 3,975 at the end of December 1968, of which 1,594 were research engineers and scientists. With this background, let us now consider the operation of the Center. The main areas to be considered are listed in figure 3. I am not going to spend time discussing it. But I will have a brief word to say about all items on that figure, because although there are a lot of them, each one is important to operating this Center. Let me first discuss organization. Langley utilizes a so-called matrixtype organization (fig. 4). This really means that we are organized by technical disciplines, represented by the Division. Divisions with related disciplines are grouped under assistant directors who report to me. The assistant directors also assume responsibility for directing broad programs, which are Center-wide, or even NASA-wide, in nature; for example, advanced research in support of manned orbiting research laboratories, as illustrated in figure 5. The organization is streamlined to minimize supporting staff and to rely on line management to get the job done. The matrix seems best for Langley because of the broad scope of our program, and the many interfaces with other organizations both within and without Government, some of which are listed in figure 6. There are many organizations with whom we work. I will not take time to discuss this figure. Figure 7 illustrates the extent of one of the largest of these interfaces. We supported on request nearly 120 DOD projects from 1961 to 1968. For this and similar work, an average of 40 people visit Langley each day. |