Jun 19 1998
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
The U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee responsible for allocating funding for the space program voted on a US$13.3 billion budget for NASA, US$138 million less than President William J. Clinton had requested and US$300 million less than the U.S. Senate subcommittee had approved. Subcommittee Chairperson Jerry Lewis (R-CA) stated that the House had reduced the budget allocation because NASA planned to fly fewer Shuttle missions in the next fiscal years and because of the delays in assembling the ISS. Unlike the Senate, the House did not vote to monitor the budget of the program by creating a separate account for space station funding.
Hughes Global Services Inc. announced the success of its salvage mission to a stranded Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Ltd. communications satellite. The 3.8-ton (3,500-kilogram or 3.5-tonne) AsiaSat 3 had remained stranded in a useless orbit since its December 1997 launch. Asia Satellite Telecommunications had received US$200 million from insurers. The insurers had told Hughes Global Services to find a new customer, if the salvage mission was successful. Asia Satellite Telecommunications had originally intended AsiaSat 3 to provide television and telephone service in Asia, but the Russian-built launcher had malfunctioned, and the satellite's orbit had gone awry, rendering it useless. Hughes Global Services had taken possession of the satellite, implementing a "seemingly improbable" mission to salvage the spacecraft. Hughes had sent the satellite around the Moon twice, using the Moon's gravity to help correct the satellite's orbit around the Earth, and declared the salvage mission a success, even though the satellite was not stationary, which would limit the number of customers who might lease or buy it.
Eighteen members of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology submitted a letter to President William J. Clinton, urging him to "abandon plans to reach an agreement in China on expanding space cooperation because of Beijing's weapons transfers and human rights abuses." The letter was the House's response to a 29 April report in the Washington Times, disclosing a plan to conclude a space cooperation agreement at the Beijing summit. The article discussed a draft agreement calling for the free and unrestricted exchange of scientific data between NASA and the State Science and Technology Commission of China, a key developer of weapons-related technology. The lawmakers, warning that the pact would increase the likelihood of China's sharing technology with rogue states, referred to a CIA report stating that China had aimed 13 of its 18 long-range strategic missiles at the United States. These comments emphasized the concern of members of Congress that China constituted a direct threat to the United States. Many opponents of the agreement insisted that the United States should not share with China technologies or applications that enemies of the United States might use against the American people or U.S. interests.
James B. Willet, a nuclear astrophysicist who had worked for NASA, died of cancer at his Maryland home. Willet had worked for 20 years on the scientific staff of NASA's JPL in Pasadena, California, and for three years as JPL's liaison to NASA Headquarters before joining the Space Research Association in 1993. At JPL, Willet had acted as a science coordinator and team chief for the Galileo Mission. Galileo was orbiting Jupiter at the time of his death. Willet was also a field operations team leader for the Mars balloon-testing program and had conducted research in gamma-ray astronomy. Willet's duties as liaison officer involved him in the Voyager, Ulysses, and Pioneer programs.
NASA officials at Lewis Research Center (LERC) in Cleveland, Ohio, announced the new five-year collaborative program of LERC and Case Western Reserve University. The program's name, the Glennan Microsystems Initiative, honored the late T. Keith Glennan, the first NASA Administrator, who had served from 1958 to 1961. Glennan was also President Emeritus of Case Institute of Technology, forerunner of Case Western Reserve University. Backed with US$16 million in federal funds and US$4.5 million in state funds, the initiative planned to "develop and apply the technology known as microelectricomechanical systems for industry and for NASA." LERC planned to develop systems for use a decade into the future, including power systems for the next space station.
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