WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS WALTER L. LINGLE, JR. NASA depends heavily upon American industry as a partner in carrying out this country's space program. More than 90 percent of the money appropriated to NASA by Congress is currently being spent through American private industry. The First NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference held July 28-29, 1960, provided industrial management an overall picture of the NASA organization and program, and established an adequate basis for subsequent conferences held at Goddard Space Flight Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At these 1960 Center Conferences the scientific and technical content of NASA's program plans were further developed in sufficient detail to be of direct utility to scientists and engineers concerned with program and project proposal formulation in organizations whose capabilities and interests overlap NASA's current and future requirements. NASA's organization has grown and changed so much since July 1960 and our program and budget have so expanded that there has been a growing demand by industry for NASA to repeat the program plans conferences at Headquarters and at the Centers. Industry has asked that we let them know more accurately what we are now planning for the future so that they can more intelligently invest in their own facilities, their own research and development programs, and develop their organization to make better-informed responses to our future requests for proposals. The purpose of papers 2 to 34 is to acquaint industry with the thinking about NASA projects already underway, and to discuss the studies, which have been approved, of possible new projects. Hopefully, these discussions will bring to bear upon our programs the full force of the creative and inventive capabilities which exist in American business organizations. At the same time these papers should be of benefit to industry in helping to develop research and development programs more efficiently. vii |