Jul 1 1993
From The Space Library
NASA announced that it had selected investigators to work on a new mission, called TIMED (Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics). The mission was to study the atmospheric regions that lie roughly between 40 to 110 miles (60 and 180 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The investigators come from four different universities, two of NASA's research centers, and four nonprofit research and/or industrial laboratories in the United States. (NASA Release 93-123)
NASA announced that it had set July 17 as the launch date for the Space Shuttle Discovery's 17th flight. The nine-day mission of STS-51 was to include deployment of an Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) and deployment and retrieval of the German-built ORFEUS-SPAS astrophysics free-flier. A six-hour space walk by two astronauts was also scheduled. (NASA Note to Editors N93-38)
Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary harshly criticized the management of the $11 billion Federal Superconducting Super Collider project scheduled to be built in Texas. O'Leary said she was distressed by reports of wasteful expenditures, erroneous cost estimates, and the contractor's failure to cooperate with government auditors. She said she would move to replace the principal con-tractor, Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA), in the next 30 days. (W Post, Jul 1/93; NY Times, Jul 1/93)
The Los Angeles Times reported that a dispute was brewing within NASA regarding who was to be assigned to the management team overseeing work on the redesigned Space Station. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin was said to be looking for new blood on the management team. (LA Times, Jul 1/93)
In letters to the editor of the Baltimore Sun, two Johns Hopkins University physics professors defended the importance of the Super Collider. Both writers said that the project represented basic research of the highest caliber and noted that its fate should not be tied to that of the Space Station. (B Sun, Jul 1/93)
The Shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 1, after a two-day delay caused by bad weather. The Shuttle carried a science satellite the astronauts had retrieved in orbit.
Meanwhile, the crew of Shuttle Discovery was practicing for the Shuttle's next mission, scheduled to begin July 17. During the six-hour spacewalk planned for the mission, astronauts were to test Hubble Space Telescope repair tools. The Hubble repair mission was scheduled for December. (AP, Jul 1/93; RTW, Jul 1/93; UPI, Jul 1/93; USA Today, Jul 1/93; NY Times, Jul 2/93; W Post, Jul 2/93; W Times, Jul 2/93; Ak Wk, Jul 5/93)
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told a Senate panel that Space Station Freedom needed to be everything from a scientific laboratory to "an inspiration to children." Disagreeing with Goldin, Robert L. Park, representing the American Physical Society, argued that the "Space Station is unlikely to make any significant scientific contribution." (AP, Jul 1/93, Jul 2/93)
A team of Russian and French cosmonauts blasted off to the Mir Orbital Space Station on July 1, for a three-week mission. The team was scheduled to carry out a series of medical and scientific experiments and undertake three space walks. This was the fourth joint Russian-French space flight since 1982. (RTW, Jul 1/93; RT, Jul 1/93)
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