Nov 22 1982
From The Space Library
NASA signed an $11.6 million contract with a 22-member Arab group of nations and organizations to launch a communications satellite from the Shuttle in 1984. Administrator James M. Beggs signed the agreement for NASA; Dr. Ali Al-Mashat, director general, signed for the Arab satellite group. Arabsat, a consortium, included both Libya and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); some uproar ensued on Capitol Hill until senators were persuaded that the deal did not imply U.S. recognition of the PLO. The United States also had no diplomatic relations with Libya and had a policy of selling no military goods to its government.
A State Department spokesman said that Arabsat members would "get no more than they already had through the existing INTELSAT satellite communications system." The deal envisioned no transfer of technology, as the satellite would never be handled by its Arabsat owners. Saudi Arabia, which would be the center of operations, would control television programming for Arabsat use.
NASA Associate Administrator James A. Abrahamson said that be Shuttle was a commercial service and that its launches "should not be considered a political activity." (NASA Release 82-173; W Post, Nov 23/82, A-2)
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