Mar 13 1996

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NASA announced that it had developed a prototype for new software to teach pilots how to fly commercial aircraft. The improved technological capabilities of computers had allowed Steve Casner, a scientist at NASA's ARC, to develop a program imitating the flight management system of an automated "glass" cockpit and allowing pilots to use their laptops to simulate flying. Pilots could load the program onto their own computers, supplementing the training they had received through classroom instruction and flight simulators. The program featured five windows: "a control/display unit, mode control panel, two maps showing the aircraft's lateral track and its vertical track, and a flight mode enunciator showing which flight systems [were] currently controlling the airplane."

NASA selected astronaut Wendy B. Lawrence to replace Charles J. Precourt as Director of Operations, Russia, making Lawrence the primary contact between NASA and Russian Space Agency officials. As Director of Operations, Russia, Lawrence became responsible for overseeing the training and preparation of U.S. astronauts at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, outside of Moscow. Lawrence was the sixth astronaut to serve in this position.

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