Apr 15 1991
From The Space Library
Following the Flight Readiness Review, NASA announced April 23 as the launch date for Space Shuttle Discovery, with a seven-man crew commanded by Navy Captain Michael L. Coats. (NASA Release 91-54; W Times, Apr 16/91; AP, Apr 16/91; UPI, Apr 16/91; B Sun, Apr 17/91; NY Times, Apr 18/91)
Edward Stone, new Director of the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which manages planetary missions for NASA, commented on present and future plans. He stated Magellan was sending back pictures of Venus; Galileo, on its way to explore Jupiter and its moons, would view the asteroid Gaspra in October; and Mars Observer was being prepared for a September 1992 launch. He spoke of the preliminary unmanned research necessary before any exploration of Mars could be undertaken. (CSM, Apr 15/91)
Astronomer Vera Cooper Rubin discussed dark matter in the universe in the first of a six-part public television series, "The Astronomers." Rubin, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for the past 26 years, concentrated on the study of dark matter, which is thought to account for the mass of nine-tenths of matter in the universe. (W Post, Apr 15/91; NY Times, Apr 15/91)
NASA and the Defense Department were expected to present the National Space Council with a proposal to build a new, heavy unmanned booster for the late 1990s. It would be based on a Space Shuttle external tank equipped with oxygen/hydrogen engines, using strap-on solid rocket motors. Jack Lee, Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, told the U.S. Space Foundation Symposium in Colorado Springs that the belief was that the new device could achieve a payload cost to orbit as low as $500-$1,000 per pound. (Av Wk, Apr 15/91)
The House Government Operations Committee asked NASA to reinstate the third bidder, Convex Computer Corporation, for the Operations Automatic Data Processing contract. Convex was disqualified for filing its bid nine minutes late. The request was made, according to committee chairman John Conyers, Democrat from Michigan, in order to encourage competition. (Federal Computer Week, Apr 15/91; Government Computer News, Apr 15/91))
Construction of NASA's Ames-Dryden Integrated Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base was 18 months behind schedule and $3.1 million over its original cost estimate because three successive contractors pulled out of the job, NASA said. Efforts were underway to find a new contractor. NASA spokesman Don Haley asserted that the construction delays had not hindered aircraft tests. (Los Angeles Daily News, Apr 15/91; Californian, Apr 19/91)
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