APPENDIX A

INFORMATION SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

MARCH 25, 1971.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. EBERHARD REES, DIRECTOR, MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, I am pleased to be privileged to present a summary report on the Marshall Space Flight Center, and then, in turn, the current and future programs.

CENTER OVERVIEW

For the benefit of the new members of the subcommittee, a copy of the current MSFC organization chart is shown on Figure 1. There are four major organization elements. The Science and Engineering Directorate is our largest Center element and is made up of research and development laboratories. It constitutes the primary in-house technical capability of the Center. This Directorate is not organized by programs but by technical disciplines. Their engineering capabilities are applied across the board against all of our programs during the conceptual period as well as during the development phase. They are capable of participating in all facets of development of subsystems and entire systems starting with the design and specifications all the way through to qualification,

certification, and use. They provide judgment as to adequacy of contractor designs and can provide overall technical guidance to the hardware contractors. Whenever there is technical difficulty on problems in any of our programs, where the program manager needs help, this organization will recognize and penetrate the problem area. But this is only one part of their function.

They are also engaged in research and development. This effort is largely in support of new technology, in support of advanced programs and in support of current approved programs. This effort keeps this in-house capability razorsharp so that technical direction on current on-going programs given is based on first-hand knowledge.

I consider this in-house capability one of our most important assets. It not only provides for problem solving on a timely and efficient basis and research into the latest technology, but provides a means of assuring the government that we are getting the most from every dollar spent. Without such capability, we could easily become totally dependent on advice from our contractors. We must have the capability of judging the concept, design and quality of what we are buying. I believe this in-house technical competence is a major reason for the success record of the Saturn vehicles-24 vehicles launched without loss of the launch vehicle.

Another major organizational element is the Program Management Directorate. This element manages our on-going programs. Most of the money spent at this Center goes to industry and this organization with its program managers administers the current programs-Skylab, the Saturn vehicles and engines and the Lunar Roving Vehicle. There are two major government-owned facilities attached to Program Management. These are Michoud Assembly Facility, including the Slidell Computer Complex, in New Orleans area, and the Mississippi Test Facility, also in the Gulf Coast area.

The Program Development Directorate was established in 1968 to provide a single responsible organization for the planning, coordination and direction of all aspects of advanced programs. Today, of course, they are heavily involved in the Space Shuttle (vehicle and engines), the definition of scientific and applications experiments that will utilize the Shuttle in the future missions, the High Energy Astronomy Observatory, the Space Station and other advanced projects and concepts. These will be discussed in more detail later.

The remaining major organization is the Administration and Technical Services Directorate. This constitutes the support and services activities for the Center. For example, there is the Manpower Office that handles the personnel function, the Financial Management Office, Purchasing Office, and so forth.

In addition to the four major organizational elements, there are the conventional staff activities about which I feel no discussion is necessary.

Key personnel changes at the Center that have occurred over the past year are: Dr. William R. Lucas, formerly Director of Program Development, was appointed Center Deputy Director, Technical, succeeding Mr. Erich W. Neubert, who has been filling the position on an acting basis.

Mr. R. W. Cook, formerly Deputy for Operations, Science and Engineering Directorate, was appointed Center Deputy Director, Management, succeeding Mr. Harry Gorman who was transferred to MSF in Washington.

Mr. E. D. Mohlere, formerly Director, University Affairs, was appointed Assistant to the Center Director, replacing Mr. J. N. Foster who was transferred to NASA Headquarters.

Mr. James T. Shepherd, formerly Assistant to the Center Director, was appointed Deputy Director, Technical, Program Management.

Mr. William Teir, formerly Director, Saturn IB Office, was appointed Deputy Director, Management, Program Management.

Mr. James Murphy, was appointed Acting Director, Program Development, in addition to his duties as Associate Director for Management, Program Development.

The Figure 2 shows our permanent civil service manpower situation. At the end of fiscal year 1965, we reached our peak of manpower of 7327. This reflects the peak workload for Apollo Program. There has been a steady decline to our present strength of 5804. Based on the President's budget for fiscal year 1972, we will further reduce to 5507. This will represent a reduction of over 1800 or approximately 25% since the fiscal year 1965 peak. I would like to point out that by the end of fiscal year 1972 all of the buildup which occurred during Apollo will have been eliminated and our staffing level will be essentially the same as when MSFC was established in 1960. To reach the level of 5507 by the end of

fiscal year 1972, it will be necessary to execute a reduction in force-attrition alone cannot accomplish the reduction. This reduction in force will be the third in four years.

The personnel reductions since fiscal year 1965 have been accomplished through extended hiring freezes and to a lesser degree by reduction in force methods. Throughout this period, our main objective has been to maintain our capability to carry out the on-going and projected new programs. However, these methods combined with the long period of time we have been declining, have impaired our ability to maintain the skill distribution we believe necessary. We are attempting to adjust the imbalance within major categories through career development and training. Our present limited hiring policy is aimed at clerical replacements because of the high attrition rate in this category, hiring of a few Co-op students or new talent in fields of new Center development and replacement of critical skills.

In addition to the imbalance in our skill distribution, we have a higher average age than the other Manned Space Flight Centers-MSFC 42.6 years; KSC 41.2 years and MSC 38.7 years. The impending reduction in force and continued hiring restrictions coupled with very nominal attrition will cause our aging rate to continue to increase.

Figure 3 reflects the distribution of our civil service manpower by program and activity. It summarizes the manpower presented in the fiscal year 1972 Budget Book as well as the history from the peak in fiscal 1965. Since the successful manned lunar landing in fiscal year 1-970 and looking forward to the launching of the Skylab, we have been shifting emphasis from Apollo to Skylab while retaining adequate support for the remaining Apollo flights. Supporting Research and Technology, Space Sciences and Advanced Missions remain at about the same level proportionate to total manpower. The impact of the Space Shuttle effort is beginning to take shape and will unfold as the program evolves.

In addition to the civil service personnel, Marshall utilizes the expertise of support contractors. This support can be classified into three major categories. One is referred to as the institutional support that provides administrative services such as security guards, motor pool activities, janitorial services and so forth here on the Center. The second category is called facility operations

this includes activities similar to the administrative services but are in support of the Michoud Assembly Facility, the Mississippi Test Facility, and the operation of Slidell Computer Complex. The third and largest category of support contractor services is the engineering support to our research and development laboratories. Figure 4 shows the manpower levels of all three categories from fiscal year 1965 through our estimated level for fiscal year 1972. The peak support contractor manpower occurred in fiscal year 1966 and has been decreasing with the reduced commitments to the Apollo Program and the corresponding reduced activities at Michoud, Slidell and Mississippi Test Facility. I would like to note that the 3899 support contractor level for fiscal year 1972 considers only NASA work and does not include the impact of the Environmental Activities to be carried out at MTF. Specific funds were identified for these activities by Congress in the NASA fiscal year 1971 budget. Contractor support for this effort is expected to create a need for approximately 394 additional man-years.

This support contractor manpower has provided Marshall with valuable flexibility, but more important, with additional technical capability to meet the fluctuating requirements of NASA's research and development program. The levels of support contractor personnel will, of course, fluctuate with Marshall's changing program assignments.

We are currently recompeting the support contractors at Marshall. For the nine contracts, we received 92 proposals from 37 companies. The contract awards are scheduled for late this summer.

I would now like to discuss the overall facilities assigned to Marshall. Figure 5 shows the location and plant value of MSFC capital assets. These assets include the value of government-owned land, buildings, structures, plant equipment, associated utilities and improvements. These capital assets are valued at $1,056 million made up from the following: (a) Appropriated Construction of Facilities funds, $575 million; (b) Transferred (from other government agencies), $100 million, (c) Minor construction, $22 million and (d) Capital equipment, $359 million. These values are in terms of the acquisition value, not replacement which would be considerably higher. With this size of capital assets, there is always a requirement for modifications and rehabilitation.

The Marshall construction of facilities (C of F) program totals by fiscal years 1961 through 1971 is shown on Figure 6. The C of F for the Apollo program peaked in fiscal year 1963 at approximately $191 million and was essentially completed in fiscal year 1966. Since fiscal year 1967, the C of F Program has primarily been one of protecting and preserving the government investment-such things as fire surveillance, water pollution control, and repairs. On future programs we plan to utilize these existing facilities to the greatest extent possible. For the most part, this will involve some modifications only.

Early this month, Mississippi, Test Facility was selected as the site for sea level testing of the main rocket engines for the Space Shuttle. The facilities requirements for the engine testing will be met by modification to the two exist ing S-II stage test stands. The modifications required generally consist of the addition of LOX and LH2 run tanks, modifications to structural, mechanical, electrical, control, instrumentation, propellants and pressurants, firex and deflector water systems. The Test Control Center and the Data Acquisition Center will also be used but require only minor modifications.

The President's budget contains $20 million for Space Shuttle facilities and $10 million for modification and rehabilitation. The distribution of these funds to the various centers is not known at this time.

Before I discuss the current and future manned space programs and concepts, I would like to note some of the unmanned and related activities of Marshall. The High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO)-Phase B-definition studies are currently managed by Marshall.

This HEAO Project demonstrates the inter-dependence among many organizations and people. For example, OSSA has the overall program responsibility; OTDA will have the overall responsibilities for tracking, data acquisition, data processing facilities and the network; Marshall, the project management; Lewis Research Center, the procurement of the Titan launch vehicle Goddard Space Flight Center, the tracking and data acquisition; and, of course, KSC for launch operations. In addition to the various contracts with industry for the hardware, each experiment has one, and in some cases more, principal investigators from the scientific community.

Another, but considerably smaller, astronomy program assigned to Marshall is the Stratoscope II Project. This is a balloon launched 36 inch telescope. The

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