Jan 16 1997
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(New page: Johnson Space Center (JSC) awarded BRSP Inc. a US$128 million, five-year contract to provide base-operation support services, including plant maintenance and o...)
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Johnson Space Center (JSC) awarded BRSP Inc. a US$128 million, five-year contract to provide base-operation support services, including plant maintenance and operations, logistics support, and security services for JSC's Houston, Texas, facility. BRSP, a joint venture of Brown and Root Services and Pioneer Contract Services, had formed to bid for the JSC contract.
Fred C. Adams and Gregory P. Laughlin, astrophysicists at the University of Michigan, presented their theory of a "Dying Universe," at the American Astronomic Society conference. Adams and Laughlin had projected the future of the universe based upon quantitative theory, concluding that the Earth would die out with a whimper. According to their theory, the Sun will eventually die out, and the light of all stars will vanish. The projection was so far off in the distance (10,000 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years from now) that it drew a mixture of criticism, amusement, and intrigue from the scientific community. Adams and Laughlin insisted that recently acquired insights into cosmic evolution had allowed them to draw conclusions about the end of the universe, albeit in broad terms. Previously, scientists had lacked even the basic data and theoretical framework necessary to undertake the task. The two researchers emphasized that they made no claim to foresee when the universe would end, but rather offered the first long-term, science-based deduction on how the universe would evolve through four periods of expansion-the star-filled era (the present), the degenerate era, the black-hole era, and the dark era. The ultimate result of such a progression was too difficult to estimate, according to the scholars.
NASA announced that planned major modifications of Space Shuttle Atlantis, as well as routine inspections, would take place at the Boeing Company's facility in Palmdale, California, rather than at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. United Space Alliance, the company contracted for the maintenance and operation of the Shuttle program, had recommended the changes. According to estimates of the U.S. General Accounting Office, completing the renovations in California, rather than in Florida, would cost NASA an additional US$20 million because of higher labor costs. NASA explained that if the engineers had done the work in Florida, the launch schedule at KSC, along with the need for Atlantis to make a prolonged stay for extensive modifications, would have threatened future Shuttle flights. The changes planned, including rerouting the Shuttle's fuel lines, involved more than routine maintenance. NASA also pointed out that its most experienced engineers worked at the Palmdale facility, and that workers at the facility had already made similar modifications to Shuttles Discovery and Endeavour. Moreover, NASA maintained that permitting KSC to focus on Shuttle launches and missions would be the most efficient use of its resources. Nevertheless, immediately after the announcement, some observers criticized NASA's continued use of Boeing's private facility in preference to that of the government-owned KSC. NASA's previous intimation that the Palmdale facility would be "mothballed" for Shuttle repair and maintenance intensified critics' reaction to the announcement.
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