COMMENTS FOR J.R. THOMPSON

VISIT TO MICHOUD ASSEMBLY FACILITY

MARCH 13, 1987

I want to thank the management of Martin Marietta and MAF for

inviting me to visit and talk with you today. Being as far from

MSFC as you are here, you might feel we at headquarters are not

always accessible or available -- that we're out of touch with

you and your problems and your successes.

I'm here today to tell you it just isn't so!

I'm also here to tell you just how valuable you all are to

our space program and how much we recognize and appreciate the

sacrifices you're making to keep our national space program

intact.

We ARE going to return to space -- you can bank on that!

Shortly after the end of the Apollo program, Dr. von Braun

was asked whether America's space program was over. Dr. von Braun

was horrified at the thought. He compared the space program to

working hard to plant an orchard. After having brought in the

first abundant harvest, he said, only a madman would say, "Well,

we've done it. Now let's cut down the trees for firewood!"

The Challenger accident revealed some weakneses -- but it

also revealed many strengths -- one of which is the Michoud

Assembly Facility and the team here.

As I said, we ARE going to return to space -- and you're

going to take us there. You're going to share the glory of that

return. I know times are difficult -- the last unemployment

figures I saw for Louisianna put New Orleans up at about 14 per

cent. That's almost double the national average.

( MORE )

Many of your friends and co-workers were hit hard by the

layoffs last April and October. The cutbacks in the wake of the

Challenger disaster hit almost 1,000 members of our MAF team.

Up to last Tuesday, when NASA accepted E.T. 44, you all had

manufactured 43 external tanks. (CLARIFICATION: Work on ET7 was

suspended when switch was made to light-weight tank design. ET7

was never completed.) Following the loss of Challenger,

production of external tanks was reduced by two-thirds, from 12 a

year to four. Once we return to space flight next year,

production is probably going to remain at four per year until we

use up some of the external tank inventory.

Still, if our return to flight stays on schedule, we should

see some increases in the workforce here by the end of 1988. I

know that seems a long way off, but that day will come. Budget

projections show Martin Marietta is slated to receive $267

million this fiscal year, $314 million next fiscal year, and to

be back to more than $400 million by 1991.

It seems so unfair that you folks on the external tank team

were hit hardest by the 51-L disaster. The Rogers Commission

found no fault with any portion of the E.T. program -- in fact,

your work was praised as being of the highest quality. We at

Marshall are very proud of that -- as you should be as well.

Unfortunately, faults were found with a number of other areas

of the shuttle design. The past year has been the worst in the

history of MSFC as we've scrambled to get back on track and back

into space.

(MORE )

RETURN TO SPACE

SSME redesign

SRB redesign

STS design changes (landing gear, etc.)

Management changes

I want to assure you, the shuttle we're going to fly next

year will be as safe as we can make it. No one can guarantee 100

per cent reliability -- even a surgeon performing a simple

tonsilectomy won't give a 100 per cent guarantee of success --

but it will be as good as we can build it -- perhaps I should say

it will be as good as YOU can build it. And that's as good as it

gets, isn't it?

You've established a well deserved reputation for excellence,

a reputation that should pay some handsome dividends for all of

you in the future.

As some of you are aware, we're already looking at follow-ons

to the space shuttle. At least two of these designs employ the

external tank you're building here. It seems to be the wisest

course for NASA, that it should augment its shuttle fleet with

expendable heavy lift launch vehicles. A number of missions

planned for the shuttle could be accomplished just as easily with

an expendable shuttle-derived vehicle -- and at no risk to the

lives of a crew of astronauts.

(MORE )

5

The first of these shuttle derived vehicles would replace the

orbiter with a large cylinder, about the same size as the

external tank, which would be used as a kind of space boxcar to

carry payloads of up to 150,000 pounds into LEO.

The second design I've seen would use a shortened external

tank fitted with SSMEs at one end and a payload container at the

other. Bulky, lighter payloads of about 50,000 pounds would be

carried aloft using this design.

Both designs would use strap-on solid rocket motors.

The coming decade promises to be busy and exciting for all of

us. Martin Marietta and Boeing are competing, of course, to

produce the proposed Space Station. If it is approved, somewhere

in the neighborhood of seven to 12 shuttle flights will be

required to carry all of the components aloft.

Even more importantly for MAF, both firms have asked to use

the facilities here to construct the modules. I know you'll

understand when I say a lot needs to be worked out before any

plans announced formally, but, if Congress approves construction

of the space station, much of the Earthside fabrication should be

done here.

( MORE )

A number of other major current programs also will demand use

of a shuttle or a shuttle derived vehicle. These include:

Orbiting the first of the great observatories, the

Hubble Space Telescope, thereby making America the world's center

for astronomy.

Spacelab missions.

Developing the OMV.

Work to develop and improve upper stages.

Tethered satellite experiments.

The more distant future also looks promising for you here at

MAF as we work to:

Develop a better balanced manned/unmanned heavy lift

launch capability.

Develop Orbital Transfer Vehicles.

Conduct the Gravity Probe B experiments to prove a major

premise of Einstein's theory of relativity.

Build geostationary facilities.

Build the Solar Terrestrial Facility.

Far down the road, of course, we're going to use the space

station as a logical stepping stone for our return to the Moon,

visit Mars, and head out into the cosmos. Earth is only the

cradle of mankind -- now he has begun to walk -- and his path

leads throughout the Universe.

(MORE)

You are key players on the team which is building the

vehicles we will use to pursue our destiny in space. There's a

glorious future ahead if only we'll keep the faith during these

trying times. Those who keep the faith -- those who persevere --

will deserve the undying thanks of generations yet unborn -- and

my thanks today.

Good bye -- good luck -- and hang tough, we need every one of

you !