NASA Official Urges Investing in Aeronautics

Warning that America’s aviation industry is in a “nose-dive,” NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin called on the Clinton Administration on Wednesday to invest billions of dollars in aeronautics research to stave off potentially devastating foreign competition.

“The whole aviation system is in crisis and crisis is the right word for it,” Goldin told members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at a meeting in suburban Virginia. The former TRW executive took over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration last April.

To reverse 25 years of neglect, Goldin said that NASA, in conjunction with industry, should immediately begin a major research effort that would include development of a new, environmentally sensitive, supersonic aircraft that could ferry goods and passengers from San Francisco to Tokyo in four hours.

In addition, NASA should lead research efforts to dramatically improve air traffic control and aircraft communications systems, upgrade the United States’ wind tunnels and other research facilities, and continue development of a hypersonic space plane, he said.