Aug 29 1993
From The Space Library
Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said that Russia would start selling foreign countries space technology without the machinery to launch nuclear missiles. Chernomyrdin spoke before leaving Moscow for an official visit to the United States that had been set for June but cancelled after a dispute with Washington over rocket technology sales to India.
Chernomyrdin began his U.S. trip in Houston, where his visit was to center on meetings Monday with U.S. business from the energy and aerospace industries and was to include a tour of the Johnson Space Center (RTW, Aug 29/93)
The failure of the Mars Observer mission led to a debate over the need for big, costly space projects. Commenting on the loss of the Mars Observer, an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor advocated moving away from complex missions that take a decade or more to launch in favor of cheaper, simple spacecraft. In this regard, the editorial suggested that NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and the Clinton administration reconsider the Space Station program, which, in the editorial writer's view, robs NASA of the money needed for a broad effective space program.
Writing in the Baltimore Sun, Robert L. Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, expressed similar views. He traced NASA's current problems to the Agency's abandoning of all existing launch systems for the expensive manned Space Shuttle. Parks emphasized that a replacement must he developed for the Shuttle, that the excessive emphasis on human space flight must end, that the bureaucracy that is choking NASA must be streamlined, and that the old spirit of elan that once permeated the Agency must he restored.
Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, also argued that the space program should he cut back. He noted that while NASA's recent failures were unfortunate, they would have a positive effect if they forced law-makers to reconsider the justification for the multi-billion-dollar space program. He said that U.S. budget priorities should lie much closer to home. Writing in support of the Space Station was ex-astronaut Alan B. Shepard, the first American to travel in space and the commander of the Apollo mission to the Moon.
A commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer outlined the issues involved in the debate over big missions versus small missions, while a commentary in Time magazine suggested that NASA "learn the fine art of lowering expectations." B Sun, Aug 29/93; CSM, Aug 32/93; W Times, Sept 1/93; P Inq, Sept 2/93; Time, Sept 6/93; W Times, Sept 15/93)
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