Apr 5 1985
From The Space Library
NASA announced that through a cooperative effort with Satellite Communications for Learning Worldwide (SCOLA), it would televise live via satellite to hundreds of high schools, colleges, and universities across the U.S. all the science events on the Space Shuttle Discovery following its launch no earlier than April 12 from KSC. Two days prior to launch, NASA scientists and engineers would conduct a permission videoconference with the schools to acquaint students and teachers with the planned mission and science experiments. Students from selected schools would ask questions of the NASA briefers. NASA's educational affairs office was providing Discovery mission and educational materials to the participating schools.
SCOLA, an association of schools, colleges, and universities based at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, was one of the largest voluntary associations of institutional satellite antenna owners in the U.S. (NASA Release 85-51)
NASA announced a new Space Shuttle manifest for 41 Space Shuttle missions through December 14, 1987 that included nine flights for the remainder of 1985, 15 flights in 1986, and 17 flights in 1987.
Highlights for 1985 included the first Atlantis flight in late September for a Department of Defense mission; a Spacelab 3 flight in late April, Spacelab 2 with extensive European Space Agency participation in July, and another Spacelab flight in October dedicated to W. German scientific investigations. Also during 1985 NASA would deploy communications satellites for Hughes, AT&T, RCA, Mexico, Australia, Canada, and the Arabsat consortium.
In 1986 the first launch of the Space Shuttle from Vandenberg Air Force Base would occur. The first liquid-hydrogen-powered Shuttle Centaur upper stage would be used to deploy Ulysses (formerly the International Solar Polar Mission), and the Galileo mission to Jupiter (also using the Shuttle Centaur) and the Hubble Space Telescope flight would be launched.
NASA said launch dates of missions to deploy the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-B) and to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF-1) were under review. Also, NASA assigned Kathryn Sullivan, Steven Hawley, and Bruce McCandless as mission specialists for the Hubble Space Telescope flight on mission 61-J in August 1986. (NASA Release 8550)
NASA announced it would award James Harford, executive director of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), its Public Service Medal at a luncheon ceremony April 10 during AIAA's annual meeting in Washington.
The award cited Harford "for more than 30 years of staff leadership of the nation's principal professional society for the advancement of aerospace." In 1953 Harford became executive secretary of the American Rocket Society (ARS), than a fledgling organization of about 2,100 missile engineers and scientists. When ARS and the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences merged in 1963 to form the AIAA, Harford became its deputy executive director and a year later its executive director. AIAA, under Harford's leadership, grew to 35,000 members with 66 professional sections and 132 student branches.
Harford was a Fellow of AIAA, the British Interplanetary Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. (NASA Release 85-49)
NASA announced that effective today it permanently established the office of NASA productivity programs to direct, initiate, coordinate, monitor, and evaluate agency wide productivity improvement and quality enhancement initiatives. David Braunstein would continue as the office's director and would report to the NASA administrator.
The office was established to ensure NASA's leadership in the development and application of advanced technology and management practices that contributed to significant increases in agency and national productivity.
In making the announcement, NASA Administrator James Beggs said that NASA would provide a participative and challenging environment for all employees, and it would develop a team approach with its contractors to achieve the highest levels of productivity. (NASA announcement, May 15/85)
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