Jun 8 1998
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Discovery undocked from Mir, carrying back to Earth Australian-born Andrew S. W. Thomas, the last of seven U.S. astronauts to live aboard the station, and marking the completion of Phase I of the ISS program. Before closing the hatches, Mir Commander Talgat A. Musabayev presented Shuttle Commander Charles J. Precourt with a huge wrench that had been used in spacewalks and would be flown to the future ISS.
NASA officials announced that the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which had operated the science program for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since 1983,would also manage the science operations for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). As one of the cornerstone missions of the Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems, a major project within its space science program, NASA expected the NGST "to provide a critical follow-on to the Hubble Space Telescope." With capabilities unavailable in existing ground- based or space telescopes, the NGST's purpose was to observe the first stars and galaxies in the universe, to understand better how the universe formed after the Big Bang. After consulting advisory committees, Wesley T. Huntress Jr., Associate Administrator for NASA's Office of Space Science, had decided that the "most cost-effective and scientifically sound way to proceed" would be "to expand the [Space Telescope Science] Institute's responsibilities to include the management" of the new telescope.
Michael I. Mott, NASA Associate Deputy Administrator (Technical), one of NASA's top three managers, announced his decision to leave NASA to join Boeing Space Transportation in Seal Beach, California, as Vice President of Business Development. Mott had served as NASA Associate Deputy Administrator since January 1994.
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