Dec 2 1992
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NASA and several other U.S. and Canadian agencies announced selection of an international team of more than 200 scientists to study the relationships between northern forests and the atmosphere and how those relationships affect the global environment. The study, the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study, was intended to conduct ground-based, air-borne, and satellite measurements in a four-year, $30-million program. NASA's component is part of Mission to Planet Earth, the Agency's long-term effort to study the Earth as a global environmental system. (NASA Release 92-215)
Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on a secret mission for the Pentagon, carrying what analysts surmised was a spy satellite to monitor troop movements in Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Several days of technology and medical experiments were also scheduled for the week-long mission. The launch was delayed 85 minutes while the Sun melted a thick coat of ice from its fuel tank. This eighth and last Shuttle mission of 1992, the 52nd for NASA's program, concluded NASA's busiest year since 1985, when nine Shuttles flew. It was also the last to carry a classified military cargo.
The crew consisted of Shuttle Commander David Walker, a Navy captain; Pilot Robert Cabana, a Marine colonel; Guion Bluford, Jr., an Air Force colonel in charge of the satellite; James Voss, an Army lieutenant-colonel, and Michael Clifford, an Army lieutenant-colonel in charge of releasing six metal balls that space debris researchers on the ground were to track radar and telescopes. (The Sun, Dec 3/92; P Inq, Dec 3/92; NY Times, Dec 3/92; W Post, Dec 3/92; LA Times, Dec 3/92; WSJ, Dec 3/92; USA Today, Dec 3/92; AP, Dec 2/92, Dec 3/92; UPI, Dec 3/92)
Astronomers associated with several major observatories in the United States raised concerns anew about light pollution from cities and highways. Astronomers have long said that artificial light threatens their ability to study the heavens from Earth, but some are also saying that the glare threatens everyone's view. The scientists' campaign to curb light pollution has gained a wider audience as non-astronomers have realized that shading lights can save money as well as heavenly views. Efforts to curb excessive light pollution have improved astronomical viewing at such major observatories as Kitt Peak in Arizona. (W Times, Dec 2/92)
At the annual meeting of the American Astronautical Society in San Francisco, California, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said that NASA should decide within five years whether to replace the Space Shuttle after 2005. A decision in the matter should be made by 1997, Goldin said, although in any event, the space agency would continue to fly the Shuttles until at least 2005. Shuttle costs would have to come down in the meantime, however, even as safety improvements continued. (Space News, Dec 7-13/92)
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