Jul 3 1985
From The Space Library
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) announced it awarded a three-year, $35,181,700 contract to the Space Transportation Systems Division of Rockwell International for Space Shuttle systems integration work at MSFC, Kennedy Space Center, and Vandenberg Air Force Base. The contract called for provision of management, personnel, equipment, materials, and resources from July 1, 1985 to June 30, 1988. (MSFC Release 85-34)
NASA announced that Thomas DeCair was appointed effective July 3 associate administrator for external relations. In this position, DeCair would be responsible for policy level management, direction, and coordination of the agency's relationships with public and private organizations both domestic and international. This included the news media, other federal agencies, state and local governments, industry, and private individuals. He would also serve as the principal advisor to the NASA administrator and other senior officials on matters pertaining to NASA's external relations activities.
DeCair came to NASA from the U.S. Department of Justice where he served since February 1981 as director of public affairs and special assistant to the Attorney General.
DeCair was staff assistant in the White House Press Office and then assistant press secretary to Presidents Nixon and Ford after he graduated from Hope College, Holland, Michigan, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and received his B.A. degree magna cum laude. (NASA Release 85-102)
The first test of a U.S. antisatellite weapon against a physical target in space was delayed indefinitely because technical difficulties forced postponement of the target launching, the Washington Post reported. The U.S. Air Force cancelled the launching from Wallops Island, Virginia, and sent the targets back to the manufacturer, Avco Systems, for repair. Until the cause of the problem was found, Air Force officials said they could not estimate when the test might be rescheduled.
The NY Times reported John Pike, associate director of the Federation of American Scientists, as saying he was told by "usually reliable sources" that the technical problems centered on the radio that would signal the results of the target practice back to earth.
The Air Force had conducted two of the test flights planned for the antisatellite weapon, but aimed at a point in space rather than a physical target. The Air Force had already for apparently technical reasons rescheduled several times in 1985 the latest test, in which the weapon would be fired at one of two six-foot-diameter target balloons in orbit.
The antisatellite weapon was a two-stage rocket with a 13-inch, heat-sensing homing vehicle in its nose. Launched from beneath an F15 fighter, the rocket would intercept and destroy its target on impact.
The U.S. House the previous week approved an amendment to the military programs bill banning tests of antisatellite weapons against targets in space as long as the USSR refrained from similar tests. The Senate voted to permit the testing as long as President Reagan certified that he was trying to negotiate a treaty prohibiting antisatellite weapons. A House-Senate conference committee was scheduled to begin reconciling differences on the military bill the following week. (W Post, July 4/85, A4; NYT, July 4/85, A9)
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