Salt Lake Tribune | 1986-01-31 | Page 14

yHirug rrr- - iikum Jj xjJ is ahc Salt akc tribune j" vlll January Friday Morning ,7 AFF&fCTQJ 31, 1986 3JmiwL Section ?zgt A 'css'yrv- - 14 USDA Conservation Job Again Ignored in Secretary Choice When President Reagan years he was an assistant secretary of agriculture under President Nixon, and Mr. Reagan brought him back to Washington as deputy secretary. The new secretary left the administration a year ago to become a private consultant. He served as a director of the Commodity Credit Corp., the Agribusiness Advisory Board and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after leaving the California Department of Agriculture. He also was president of the American Meat Institute, an inof Americas conservationists. dustry group. The high profile concern of the His active interest in agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture is, of has been virtually a lifetime thing. He course, farming and ranching. Howevbegan working in his familys seed business just after his graduation er, that department also is the home of the nations oldest and one of its from the University of Notre Dame. largest conservation and land manYet the Forest Service is, on the agement agencies, the U.S. Forest basis of employees, about the largest Service. As such, it attracts about as agency in the Department of Agriculmuch attention from various conser- ture. Its also one of the federal govvation organizations and individual ernments largest revenue producers, conservationists as the Department of primarily through timber sales and Interior. grazing fees. It would be appropriate, Presidents have occasionally, but then, for presidents sometimes to look with no great consistency, appointed for people with qualifications in areas conservation-oriente- d people as sec- like range conservation, timber manof interior. retaries They have seldom agement, silviculture, recreation to the conservationgiven any weight planning and watershed protection ist qualifications of secretaries of when seeking secretaries of agriculture. agriculture. Mr. Lyng is, at least judging from Certainly significant attention the news reports, no exception to the must be paid to the needs and interests of the countrys agricultural comhoary practice. As to his future as a friend of agmunity. But giving a higher priority to functions of riculture, the Lyngs cre- the conservation-oriente- d dentials border on the impeccable. He the Department of Agriculture ought served as California secretary of agri- to enjoy greater presidential considculture from 1967 to 1969, during Mr. eration in the sOection of the departReagans tenure as governor. For four ments leader. an- nounced his selection of the 22nd secretary of agriculture to succeed resigned John R. Block, he said, I have every confidence the farmers of this nation are going to have a sound and solid friend in Secretary of Agriculture Dick Lyng. From his credentials, Mr. Lyng seems to be well qualified to look after the interests of the American farmer. The same cant necessarily be said about the interests and concerns ld Compromise on King Day Astronauts Deserve the Best No More Scrimping on Space Funds By David C. Webb Special to the Los Angeles Times The tragic destruction of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew drives home a message that was bound to come sooner or later: Exploration is dangerous, and always has been. The exploration of space can be no different from that of any other frontier. In fact, it can be said that, with all the dozens of manned craft that we and the Soviets have put into space, it is truly extraordinary that until now there have been only four other one when the Soyuz 1 capsule deaths crashed in 1967 and three others when the Soyuz 11 capsule lost its cabin pressure durin 1971. (In 1967, three American ing astronauts died when their Apollo spacecraft caught fire during a test on the launch pad.) This does nothing to lessen the blow to the families and friends of those who lost their lives Tuesday. Nor does it lessen the shock to the national psyche. We have come to expect nothing less than perfection from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and our space program. But perfection in as complex an area as space technology is an impossible dream. Now we must wake up to the reality. During the coming months, there will be many words spoken and written about the whys and wherefores of the tragedy. There g and many naywill be much sayers who will tell us that the manned space program is a waste of money, that unmanned craft can do as well. It is to be hoped that saner heads will prevail in the long run, as they generally do in this country. There is no reason for us to dismantle our space program because of one major accident. To do so would mean that those aboard second-guessin- In light of emotional feelings on leashed heated debate about the civil both sides of the issue, members of the rights leaders character, color and Utah Legislature this week coura- contributions to Utah and the nation at large. Apparently, some pragmatic geously embraced proposals to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.s contri- lawmakers have endorsed the King butions to civils rights. However, Day concept only because they fear a political power plays and petty squab- rejection may mark Utah as a racist bles could easily derail the worthy state and hurt economic development. Utah stands with Texas, Vermont and cause. Led by Rep. Robert B. Sykes, Wyoming as the last to hold out Lake City, the Utah House voted against a King Day. to designate the black leaders birthnot embarrassiif Its unfortunate, day a state holiday. House Bill 186 ng, that Utahns have had such a hard would squeeze King Day into' the time justifying a holiday in Dr. Kings states hefty holiday calendar by com- honor; that some would cave in simply bining George Washingtons and for the sake of public relations. The Abraham Lincolns birthdays into one only thing that could make matters Presidents Day the third Monday of worse would be for arguments over whose bill to adopt to bury the concept February. one in confusion. A slightly different bill Dr. King has made a profound, which exchanges Columbus Day for out of the broke positive impact on America. His finally King Day Senate Thursday. It replaces an earli- peaceful but effective fight against racial and other types of discriminaer proposal by Sen. Terry Williams, Lake City, to replace each em- tion have opened up avenues of oppor- Challenger on Tuesday had died in vain. They were astronauts because they wanted the United States to lead mankind out into space. They knew the dangers and, like all persons of great visions and actions, accepted them with equanimity. The same with Christa McAuliffe. She was a teacher. She wanted to bring the children of this nation, and the world, into the adventure of space, and to humanize space for all Earthbound people. There are hopes and dreams to follow. And, yes, there is danger that must be faced. But one does not shirk the test because of it. Neither must this country. Now is the time for us to keep our heads and to look thoughtful manner, rather than from and with emotions. As a nation, we must come to grips with the manner in which we develop our technology. The shuttle epitomizes the best and the worst in our present methods. On the one hand, the shuttle represents a tour de force of design and engineering. The first vehicle in the history of man that could fly into space and return safely, landing like an airplane on a runway, then being used again. It is a stunning breakthrough. At the same time, the shuttle is a combuilt down to a price, not up to a promise standard. As such, it uncovers the worst in the way in which we develop our technological programs. Originally the shuttle was detotally reusable signed as a spaceship. Both stages were to be manned the first flying back to the launch pad on its own power while the second continued into orbit. The problem was that this design cost more. In 1972, Congress said to NASA, It is too expensive; change it. The result was a vehicle sitting on a long tank, with two large solid rocket boosters attached. Yes, it flew. But, no, it was not the best. The question that we must ask ourselves is: Do we vant less than the best for our astronauts?Can we afford less than the best? The answer, after Tuesdays tragedy, must surely be ro. Therefore, let us ensure that we do get the best. The best that our engineers have to offer. No scrimping because Congress thinks that this is what the nation wants. No cutting back on NASAs budget. Just a firm commitment to continue into space with a steady, planned approach. That is what it will take. That is what the Soviets have already learned and what they are doing and have been doing for the last 10 years. Can we do anything less? two-stag- e, Webb, a space-polic- y in Washington, is a member Commission on Space. David C. consultant of the National calmly at our space program and see what we can do to make it better. The first question that we might ask ourselves is: Do we know what it is that we as a nation are doing in space? Few people will be able to answer that question directly, mainly because there has never been a real national debate about why we should be in space and what we should do there. The National Commission on Space has found that, outside the space community, there are few people who understand the valid reasons why Americans must continue to explore space or else abrogate our leadership as a great nation. The commission hopes that its final report, to be completed in April, will help to put this point across. In the meantime, we must hope that the debate that will follow from this tragedy will be carried on in a knowledgeable and Return to Tried and True Unmanned Rockets R-Sa- lt state-sanction- ed D-S- personal preference day tunity for minorities and women that seemed impossible just a quarter of a with King Day. In both houses, the issue has un- - century ago. Without this Americans model leadership, the United States might have experienced more of the Orbiting Paragraphs kind of racial violence now tormentThere's nothing like bad weather to bring ing South Africa. ployees out the best in people and the worst in conversation. The most miraculous thing about veteran school-bu- s drivers is that they rre vet. ran school-bu- s drivers. It must be tough raising children in an area where having a pony is not against the zoning laws. You never realize how long it is between mealtimes until you go on a diet. Whether a kid is precocious or a smart aleck depends on whether hes yours or the neighbors. As Rep. Sykes and Sen. Williams have shown, the state can commemorate the peaceful civil rights movement and its symbolic leader without adding a 13th holiday, increasing state costs or reducing employee productivity. If their colleagues truly endorse the concept of a civil rights day, they should be able to compromise and accept one of those alternatives without worrying about who takes the credit. NASA Should Scrap the Shuttle Program By T.A. Heppenheimer Special to the Los Angeles Times Oh, its flashing, its flashing terribly. It's bursting into flames and falling on the mooring mast. Oh, this is one of the worst the flames are leaping 400, catastrophes 500 feet into the sky. Its a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen, the smoke and the flames. And now its crashing to the ground, not quite at the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity! Those were the words of radio announcer Herb Morrison as he witnessed the explosion of the dirigible Hindenburg in 1937. The explosion of the Challenger will have similar significance. The Hindenburg exposed the flaws in the dirigible as a passenger carrier, showing it to be an obsolete technology that could not compete with its rival, the airplane. The Challenger disaster, in turn, will point to the shuttle as a technology that is not only obsolete but also irrelevant. Challenger points out the folly that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been pursuing for nearly 30 years, not to provide the nation with the routine and reliable space-launc- h services that it needs, but to pursue a sequence of showy space spectaculars. The result has been the Apollo and shuttle programs, which have stood largely as monuments to themselves. By contrast, the routine launching of useful satellites has taken a back seat. Remarkably, NASA has deliberately givalternative to the shuttle for en itself no launching satellites. All its satellite-launchin- g capability has been in four shuttle orbit-er- s one of which has now blown up. Inevitably, then, many important satellites will sit on the ground for months, or even years as investigations and studies take up muci of NASAs time. The Europeans have not been so foolish. They have the Ariane, an unmanned rocltet that they have been launching with good success. It has had failures, but those problems have not brought the sort of national grief that we associate with presidential assassi- T.A. Heppenheimer, who bolds a Pb.D. in aerospace engineering, is a California science writer. nations. NASA used to have a stable of similar unmanned rockets, but it gave them up, putting all its eggs into the shuttle basket. The usefulness of such rockets as well as the folly of using expensive and rare shuttle spacecraft for routine satellite launches now is clear. NASA has said that beyond the shuttle the next logical step is the space station. Instead, it should be clear that the next logical step is to face up to the limits of the shuttle as a technology. With its rockets, it can only carry 1V2 percent of its takeoff weight to orbit as passengers or cargo. This highly marginal performance represents the best that can be done with rock ets, even in their current advanced state of development. Thus from the Challenger disaster we should gain determination to go beyond the rocket and to build airplane-lik- e craft to fly to orbit. The Air Force currently is pursuing the development of its advanced aerospace plane, which will fly like an airplane from a runway, breathing oxygen taken from the air. That contrasts with the shuttle, which carries more than 600 tons of liquid oxygen in a fuel tank. The aerospace plane will rely on new engines called scramjets, with up to 10 times better performance than the rocket. With those engines, spaceflight may in time become as routine as the flight of aircraft. A space launch will no longer be a media event. Its failure will not bring national mourning. Nevertheless, Challengers loss will not be in vain if it leads NASA into a major change of course. NASA must abandon its exclusive reliance on the shuttle, saving those valuable craft for the rare occasions when they are indispensable. NASA must return to the tried and true unmanned rocket, thus assuring the nation that it can launch our satellites reliably and routinely. And NASA must look beyond the rocket, seeking its eventual replacement. Then, like the Hindenburg, Challenger may someday be remembered as having marked the advent of newer and better methods of flight. Exploring Space Is What ( )ur Age Was Meant to Do Destiny Calls: Shake Off Shuttle Disaster, Resume the Challenge By Denis Horgan The Hartford Courant Many years ago, as a much younger man, somehow found myself at a reception honon oring the first astronauts to have walked the moon. Brasher then than even now. I paI retiently waited to shake their hands. hearsed the few greetings I would offer -after all. I had once briefly exchanged small talk, with a president, chatted with a king, of sports joked with movie stars and giants and entertainment. I Suddenly, Neil Armstrong stood before I me, pleasantly extending his hand. froze. No of words me. to occurred No greetings wisdom. No witty comments. Nothing. Nothmoment in my life, I ing at all. For the only mute and immobile. was totally This was' no mere president nor trifling king, awe-struc- this was a man who actually had set foot on the moon. How to explain our enduring fascination with space and those who challenge it? How i'i explain the continuing sense of pride and satisfaction, the freshness so cruelly besudtrayed Tuesday in the gloriously crisp, skies? denly terrible It is explained, I think, in our genuine appreciation of the beauty and immensity of the accomplishment. The rightness of the effort. This is what we do This is what our age was born to. No frontiers could withstand the powerful combination of our dedication and technoogy. We took horrid engines of war and converted them into marvelous machines that would lift a few brave individuals and, with tkem, every single one of us to probe the darkest, most mysterious quarters of the imagination As a people, the "conquering of space was a special triumph. Yes, the Russians were first with their Sputniks and cosmonauts. So much the better. We spotted them Denis Horgan is an assistant managing editor of The Hartford Courant. their lead and then, as if to say, Oh, yeah? Step aside and watch us go, we sparkled the heavens with our mocn probes and Apollos and space shuttles Nationalism? Patriotism? Of course. In space we found a challenge worthy of our strength We did it so well Everything was so wAiderful, it was almost corny. Strong, square men in crew cuts rode their rockets, speaking in strange tongues of and Roger, Houston, we have a go. Before our honest eyes, early failures were followed by success after success. We were proud of ourselves. As happens, some of the surface enthusiasm faded but always there remained a special fascination with the brute power, the extraordinary scientific complexity, the basic unearthliness of the fundamental concept. In its way, it says something good about us that we were so at ease with our accomplishment; it says something even better about us that no amount of cynicism nor distraction could remove totally the quickening one felt when these curious spacecraft left or landed so smoothly, so beautifully. Yes, possibly we did it so well that we began to take for granted our worthiness and the majesty of the effort. No more. In the rude and ugly reality of our tragedy, we are reminded of the fragility of life a teacher, a and nature. One of our own was to join the sky mother, a neighbor sailers and to make space somewhat more homey, more identifiable. It was not to be. In the loss of Christa McAuliffe, Francis Dick" Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis we have lost also some of the personal and national innocence that has made the leap into space such a very special joy. It can never be the same. But, in time, we will put this sad, sad event in its special and revered plot of memory. We will pick up the challenge again. We must For this is what we do: this is what our 1 age was born to.