Dec 15 1993
From The Space Library
NASA announced the selection of 130 research proposals for negotiation of Phase II contract awards in NASA's Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). The SBIR goals are to stimulate technological innovation, increase the use of small businesses (including minority and disadvantaged firms) in meeting Federal research and development needs and increase private sector commercialization of results of federally-funded research. (NASA Release 93-219)
Russia's space facilities in Kazakhstan appeared adequate to support the Clinton Administration's plan for a joint Russian-American Space Station program, but the United States may have to invest $100 million for various improvements, Representative George E. Brown, J. (D-CA), said Tuesday. Brown, chairman of the House Space Science and Technology Committee, and a team of space experts from his committee toured the Baikonur Cosmodrome the week of December 5, 1983. (LA Times, Dec 15/93; Defense Daily, Dec 15/93; Fla Today, Dec 15/93)
Engineers from Russian and American rocket companies were at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, displaying a pair of Russian engines for sale to the American space program. Aerojet and Russian engineers briefed Marshall Space Flight Center propulsion engineers on the design, manufacturing and test history of the engines, which date to the Soviet manned lunar program in the 1960s. (Huntsville Times, Dec 15/93).
NASA has begun full-scale development of the first spacecraft to rendezvous with and orbit an asteroid. Called Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), the mission received funding in the FY 1994 budget and was scheduled to be the first in NASA's new Discovery program of small-scale, cost-effective space exploration missions to be launched. (NASA Release 93-220)
In the wake of Shuttle Endeavour's successful repair flight, commentators expressed their views on the significance of the mission. Writing in the Washington Times, Al Rossiter Jr., assistant vice president at Duke University, argued that the Endeavour astronauts who fixed the Hubble Space Telescope during five successful spacewalks should have removed any lingering doubts about the usefulness of people in space and the value of the Shuttle as an orbital service station.
Commentator Michael D. Lemonick, writing in Time, asked "What will NASA do for an encore?" noting that while the flight to fix the Hubble Telescope might have been a triumph, the agency's future was still clouded. William J. Cook, writing in U.S. News and World Report, after praising the Endeavour mission, argued in favor of building a U.S. Space Station and of adding Russia as a partner in the project. An Orlando Sentinel editorial agreed that the stunning success of the Hubble repair mission had put NASA back on track for greater challenges, such as creating a Space Station. This view was shared by the writer of a C Trib editorial. USA Today's "Opinion Line" recorded other positive responses from the U.S. media. (W Times, Dec 15/93; Time, Dec 20/; U.S. News and World Report, Dec 20/93; 0 Sen, Dec 11/93; USA Today, Dec 15/93; C Trib, Dec 18/93)
NASA said that the agency had ordered special tests for all 44 of Shuttle Discovery's small nose-and-tail steering jets after a microscopic puncture was found in one of the thrusters. The tests could delay Discovery's next mission by as much as a week, possibly longer if any thrusters needed to be replaced. (Fla Today, Dec 15/93; APn, Dec 14/93)
An unmanned probe was scheduled to be launched in 1996 to orbit the asteroid Eros, a giant rock that periodically passes close to the Earth. The spacecraft was to be built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA. It will spend almost three years flying toward a rendezvous with Eros and then spend another year orbiting the asteroid. (Apn, Dec 16/93; B Sun, Dec 16/93; RTW, Dec 15/93; AP, Dec 16/93; W Post, Dec 20/93; Defense Daily, Dec 22/93)
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