This 1978 NASA newsreel shows the activities for that year, including testing of the Space Shuttle prototype at Edwards Air Force Base. Astronaut John Young is shown training with Robert Crippen at the Johnson Space Center, and additional shuttle mission specialists and pilots are shown. The shuttle Enterprise is shown arriving at the Marshall Space Center and all components of the Space Shuttle Transportation System are put together for the first time. Shuttle boosters are shown being tested at the Thiokol Corporation, and work is shown on the space shuttle Columbia. Also shown in the film is the launch of Pioneer spacecraft aimed at Venus. The IUE, International Ultraviolet Explorer is shown launched with the ground station at the Goddard Space Center, along with EO2 with a large x-ray telescope on board. The Hubble space telescope is shown under construction at the Corning corporation, where its mirrors are being assembled. LANDSAT III and SEASAT are also shown.
Also in this newsreel at the 7:54 mark is a test of a spacesuit for a child with severe combined immune deficiency disease. David, a child who has been confined in isolation, used the suit to enjoy some things that “normal” children enjoy. He was known as the Bubble Boy or the Boy in a Bubble.
A pair of balloonists who flew across the Atlantic in the balloon are shown, who were tracked by the NIMBUS 6 satellite en route.
The first large wind generator to be used in the USA in many decades is shown at the 10:00 mark, with a wind generator installed at Clayton, New Mexico. This was the first modern wind turbine in the United States to supply electricity to a commercial utility on a regular basis.
Various aeronautics research is shown at the 10:30 mark, with wind tunnels being used to improve crop dusting aircraft. Winglets are shown being tested at the 11:15 mark. These winglets are now standard equipment in most commercial aircraft.
The XV-15 Tiltrotor aircraft is also shown being tested at the Ames Research Center. This was the demonstrator that resulted in the contract for the V-22 Osprey. Engineers are also shown testing aircraft engines in an attempt to reduce noise output, and the Dryden Research Center’s YF-12 / SR-71 Blackbird is shown being test flown.
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