Nov 18 1979
From The Space Library
The Washington Post reported that five states were vying for the Large Space Telescope "even though it will be 300 miles above everybody's head." The actual bone of contention was the science institute that would direct use of the unique orbiting observatory. One astronomer said the location of the institute would be "the astronomical capital of the world" for the next 30 years; it was "the biggest astronomical prize to come along since the 200-inch was built at Palomar for the Hale Observatory." The five competing states were Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, and California (the University of Arizona and University of New Mexico, where numerous ground-based telescopes were already located, were considered "occasional" contenders). Competition for the institute was so serious that three of the competing groups represented 74 universities: the University Research Association (URA), with 53; Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), with 7; and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), with 14. URA backed the Fermilab outside Chicago; AUI wanted it at Princeton; AURA wanted it at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Princeton boasted of Einstein's work there for over 20 years. Hopkins said that it had been doing spaceborne astronomy for 20 years and was closer to Washington and to GSFC, which would track and control the Space Telescope. NASA said it would not decide for a year; the Washington Post said that nobody at the agency would talk about it. (W Post, Nov 18/79, A-4)
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