Feb 15 1993
From The Space Library
A New York Times editorial suggested that if pain was to he spread fairly, the country's two biggest science projects, the $8.3 billion Superconducting Super Collider now being built in Texas and the $30 billion Space Station, had to be cut along with other vital programs.
The editorial noted that some reviews have said that the Space Station had only one important goal that cannot be met on Earth: it would serve as a base for biomedical studies of what happens to humans and animals who remain in space for long periods. That goal, the editorial suggested, could be met more cheaply. A harder call, according to the editorial, was the Super Collider because, according to all accounts, this was a pioneering research project designed to yield secrets of matter that could not be found any other way. But in the end, big science must do its share. (NY Times, Feb 15/93)
NASA managers and engineers warned that infighting and confusion jeopardized the Space Station effort. Critics said that NASA must strengthen accountability, do away with bureaucratic constraints, and forge a more cohesive team. There was widespread disagreement among Space Station players over whether NASA should make some personnel changes or take a more radical path, for example, invest more authority in the program office in Reston, Virginia, or concentrate effort at a single NASA center. (Space News, Feb 15-21/93)
Russian scientists from the Baikonur Center near Moscow and their U.S. colleagues from the NASA Ames Research Center, Stanford University, and McDonnell Douglas Corporation have been working to build more enthusiasm for exploration of Mars. Joint efforts were needed if exploration were to go for-ward said Dr. Louis D. Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society, a Pasadena-based international space advocacy group. The society was a partner in the Russian mission to launch orbiters scheduled to carry robotic explorers to Mars in 1994 and 1996. (AP, Feb 15/93; W Times, Mar 14/93)
Seven of the Federal government's inspectors general last year accepted bonuses-up to $20,000-from the agencies they review. NASA's inspector general, Bill Colvin, received the biggest bonus, $20,000. Colvin said the cash would not sway him. "If I've got an allegation against the head of my agency, he said, "the chips are going to fall where they may." (USA Today, Feb 15 )
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