Jul 7 1998
From The Space Library
In a vote of 66 to 33, the U.S. Senate defeated Senator Dale Bumpers's (D-AK) amendment to the appropriations bill for the Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies. The amendment would have cut the United States' US$2.3 billion share of the FY 1999 budget for the International Space Station (ISS), cancelling the ISS program. During floor debate preceding the vote, Senator Bumpers, who had been trying to eliminate U.S. funding for the space station for the past eight years, referred to the previous month's U.S. General Accounting Office report. The report had projected that the cost to develop, assemble, and operate the space station over several years would reach US$ 100 billion, in part because of recurring cost overruns. Senator John H. Glenn Jr. (D-OH) countered Senator Bumpers's arguments against the space station, citing the "incredible scientific possibilities" that could result from research on the ISS, in such areas as neurology, sleep disorders, and balance.
Rocket engineer Max E. Nowak died of natural causes at the age of 89. An original member of Wernher von Braun's German rocket team, which developed the V-1 and V-2 rockets during World War II, Nowak had been among the first of the team members to move to the United States after the war. He had been the assistant to the director of the manufacturing engineering lab during the Apollo program and had directed the assembly of systems for the Saturn I nose cones and Saturn V launch systems.
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) docked the two satellites-Orihime and Hikoboshi in outer space, marking the first time two robotic spacecraft had docked using remote control. U.S. and Russian space programs had used remote control to dock pilotless cargo craft with the piloted Mir space station, but had never maneuvered two robotic spacecraft together. NASA spokesperson Brian D. Welch called the accomplishment "an impressive feat." NASDA timed the rendezvous of the two satellites to coincide with Japan's Tanabata, or star festival, on 7 July, celebrating "a mythical meeting between the princess Orihime and her lover Hikoboshi," associated with the stars Altair and Vega. According to the legend, the pair may meet only once a year on 7 July.
NASA announced that JSC had modified its contract with United Space Alliance, awarding the contractor more Shuttle work. Three other NASA contractors had previously performed the more than US$900 million of work on the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Booster and other elements. USBI Company at Kennedy Space Center had worked on the boosters; Lockheed Martin Corporation in Houston, Texas, had designed and produced the primary Shuttle avionics software; and Boeing Aerospace Operations in Houston had processed flight equipment.
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