Nov 18 1991
From The Space Library
The Washington Post featured the space biology team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which has created a stir with a government-patented invention that allows large quantities of many types of human cells to be grown by removing the force of gravity. NASA's Rotating Wall Bioreactor had great potential for improving patient treatment and may grow still more cells when used in space. In this connection, NASA announced that the rotating wall vessel developed at the Johnson Space Center's Biotechnology Program, would be tested in space during the Atlantis flight. (W Post, Nov 18/91; NASA Release 91-195)
Thirteen European countries-Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland-met to discuss European Space Agency plans that were threatened by Germany's lack of funds. The German research budget was short $930 million because of an economic slowdown and the huge costs of German unification. The space agency's German Ariane rocket boosted at least 17 satellites into space and according to Germany's ZDF television network, was assured of funds. The question of funds for other projects, for which Germany and France were major funders, remained unclear. (AP, Nov 18/91; Science and Technology, Nov 25/91)
Robert Brown and Riccardo Giacconi of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore wrote an article favoring NASA's shift toward a more balanced program of small, intermediate, and large missions. The reason was that important research goals must be pursued with appropriate tools, including large spacecraft. For example, the Hubble Space Telescope, which was proving so valuable, needed a larger spacecraft as was to be the case with the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility under development. (SP News, Nov 18-24/91; NY Times, Nov 24/91)
A space journal reported that Vice President Dan Quayle had asked David Thompson, former NASA engineer and current chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Orbital Sciences Corporation of Fairfax, Virginia, to take the post of NASA Deputy Administrator. Thompson was considering the matter. (SP News, Nov 18-24/91)
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