May 7 1998
From The Space Library
The U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the International Space Station (ISS) project, focusing on the independent Cost Assessment and Validation Task Force, headed by Jay Chabrow. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin had selected Chabrow to lead the investigation into the cost of the ISS. The task force's findings concluded that the space station may cost US$7 billion more than the original estimate and may take two years longer than anticipated to complete. Congressional supporters and opponents of the program questioned NASA officials about the project's cost and slipping timetable, but officials indicated that they needed a few more weeks to study Chabrow's report and were unable to say whether they agreed with his team's figures. However, Goldin acknowledged that Russia's participation in the program was not working. He also promised to provide Congress with a new assessment of costs and with assembly schedules by 15 June, including estimates for continuing the project without critical Russian equipment. House Committee on Science and Technology Chairperson F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) seemed mollified after Goldin had spoken. However, Sensenbrenner "chastised the Clinton administration," remarking that its failure to send a representative from the Office of Management and Budget to the hearing reflected "the low priority" the administration placed on solving the problems facing the ISS program.
A U.S. Air Force Titan IV rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a spy satellite. Civilian observers speculated that the spacecraft's name was Orion, and that it would "play an important role in listening in on foes of the United States." With a wire mesh antenna the size of a football field, the satellite was so sensitive that it could "detect transmissions from a radio the size of a wristwatch or a very small cell phone." The satellite could also monitor electronic transmissions between military bases. At the time of the launch, the Titan was the most powerful American booster in use.
Launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, a Proton-K Russian booster carried into orbit an American EchoStar IV communications satellite, to relay broadcast signals to the central and western United States. Lockheed Martin Corporation had built the satellite and, under a partnership agreement between Lockheed and the Russian Khrunichev company, International Launch Services launched the spacecraft.
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