Mar 19 1991
From The Space Library
NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone said three days of torrential rain at Cape Canaveral, Florida, had failed to damage Space Shuttle Atlantis. (B Sun, Mar 19/91; USA Today, Mar 19/91)
A report cited efforts of Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the new Democratic task force on government waste, to point to NASA's "Super Guppy," a large transport plane, as an example of waste to be eliminated. (W Post, Mar 19/91)
After two years of study, the National Research Council in its report, The Decode of Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics, recommended that more modest instruments than the Hubble Space Telescope and only a few large observatories be developed. The next instrument, the $617 million Gamma Ray Observatory, was to be launched in April 1991. During the 1990s, of more than 50 proposals made, the report endorsed only four: the $1.3 billion Space Infrared Telescope Facility; an $80 million infrared-optimized telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii; the $115 million Millimeter Array, a group of telescopes to cover star-forming regions and galaxies; and a $55 million optical telescope to operate in the Southern Hemisphere. The report recommended several more modest programs including the $230 million Stratospheric Observatory for Far-Infrared Astronomy; the $250 million Astrometric Interferometry Mission to map positions of celestial bodies more precisely; the $15 million Large Earth-based Solar Telescope; and a $70 million spacecraft dedicated to the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopy Explorer satellite, and increasing to five the Explorer satellites to be launched on rockets. (UPI, Mar 19/91; W Post, Mar 20/91; W Times, Mar 20/91; NY Times, Mar 20/91; LA Times, Mar 20/91; B Sun, Mar 24/91)
A dress rehearsal occurred for Atlantis' four-man, one-woman crew in preparation for the blastoff on April 5. Plans for the Columbia were uncertain after a decision to disassemble the space ship's boosters because data indicated a problem with the way the bases of the rockets were bolted to their mobile launch platform. (AP, Mar 19/91; UPI, Mar 20/91)
Pamela Clark, a former NASA employee who teaches chemistry, wrote an article criticizing the lack of support from upper management of the space program. She urged Congress to adequately finance a civilian space program that would recognize America's position of world leadership. (H Chron, Mar 19/91)
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