Mar 22 1993
From The Space Library
NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, and the Ohio Aerospace Institute were scheduled to host a conference in Cleveland, March 30 and 31, focusing on the new world of cyberspace. The conference, called the Vision 21 Symposium on Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace, would provide "a panoramic view of the research and technology that will assist humans in exploration activities," said Dr. Sheila Bailey, conference chairperson. (NASA Release 93-50)
After a month of delays, NASA prepared for launch of the Shuttle Columbia's German mission. Forecasters were predicting a 70 percent chance of favorable liftoff conditions. The flight would be Columbia's fourteenth in 12 years.
The Shuttle was to take two German physicists into orbit to perform low gravity experiments inside the cargo bay of the $1 billion research module Spacelab. Five NASA astronauts were to accompany them on the nine-day flight. The German-sponsored research program touched a wide range of fields, from electronics and fluid physics to biology and astronomy. The astronauts also planned to test a robot arm mounted in the Spacelab module. (P Inq, Mar 22/93; W Times, Mar 22/93; UPI, Mar 22/93; Reuters, Mar 22/93; AP, Mar 22/93)
The Freedom Forum, a group that funds journalism programs, presented a $100,000 grant to the Mercury Seven Foundation to establish a lecture series about space. The series, which was intended to help improve public under-standing of space issues, was to be held annually in Florida's Brevard County, the location of the Kennedy Space Center. (AP, Mar 22/93)
The Air Force cancelled its planned launch of a rocket with a navigation satellite and tether experiment because of problems with ground support equipment. A damper on the launch pad became stuck in the final minutes of Friday's countdown, causing rocket valves to freeze. Although workers fixed that problem, the temperature of the helium needed to pressurize the fuel tanks did not rise back up fast enough to permit the launch. (AP, Mar 22/93)
NASA announced that it had banned news organizations from covering meetings about the redesign of Space Station Freedom. NASA said the meetings would be closed because they involved mainly NASA employees, not outside advisers. NASA has formal advisory committees, which meet openly in compliance with a 1972 law governing such meetings. (Space News, March 22-28/93)
A NASA safety panel reported that inspection of recovered Space Shuttle solid rocket motors had found traces of soot on 0-rings and recommended a redesign of one of the motor's main joints. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) warned NASA on March 18 that the possibility of a problem was "sufficiently high" to warrant the joint's redesign. (Space News, Mar 22/93)
According to a report in Space News, NASA and White House officials agreed last week to consider partner concerns about the Space Station design effort. The U.S. government would give their European, Japanese, and Canadian partners greater representation in the project and ensure that any alternative design did not exclude their hardware. The agreement was laid out in a March 19 document. (Space News, Mar 22-28/93)
According to a report in Space News, senior NASA managers testified about cost increases in a March 17 hearing called by Representative Louis Stokes (D-Ohio), chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that has NASA oversight. The subcommittee examined in detail six NASA projects that cost far more than the Agency estimated originally: Advanced Solid Motor, Advanced Turbopump, Transfer Orbit Stage, Mars Observer, Space Station, and the Space Shuttle waste collection system.
Daniel S. Goldin promised the subcommittee that he would press forward with management reforms to battle the cost growth seen in many Space Agency projects. In return, the chairman of the committee signaled Congress' willingness to provide NASA with a lump sum covering several years-rather than just annual appropriations-to conduct some space science efforts. (Space News, Mar 22-28/93; AV Wk, Mar 22/93)
According to Space News, seven months after a NASA-appointed Management Review Team reported that lax security had created a high risk of espionage at the Ames Research Center in Northern California further investigations by the FBI and NASA's inspector general had not substantiated those charges. In the meantime, however, Ames had implemented many of the team's recommendations. (Space News, Mar 22-28/93)
Space News reported that congressional lawmakers who supported NASA's Space Station were attempting to stop the White House from scaling back the program. Democrats appeared to be seeking a compromise while Republicans were threatening a public fight. (Space News, Mar 22-28; AV Wk, Mar 22/93)
NASA reported that the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia had been halted three seconds before liftoff because of a main engine failure caused by a malfunctioning engine valve. When the Shuttle's computers detected a faulty valve, the safety system shut down the Shuttle's main engines. Officials stressed that the crew on the $1 billion German-charted research mission was never in any danger because of the aborted liftoff. Repairs were expected to take about three weeks. The shutdown was the third launch pad abort in Shuttle program history. (Reuters, Mar 22/93, Mar 23/93; AP, Mar 22/93; UPI, Mar 22/93; B Sun, Mar 23/93; P Inq, Mar 23/93; CSM, Mar 23/93; NY Times, Mar 23/93; USA Today, Mar 23/93; W Post, Mar 23/93; W Times, Mar 23/93; WSJ, Mar 23/93)
In a Space News interview, John Gibbons, Director of the Office of Science and Technology, defended the White House decision to require NASA to redesign the Space Station; he also said that he did not think that space would have a lower priority in the Clinton administration as a result of the space council's being folded into the Office of Science and Technology. Among other topics, the interview touched on whether NASA would handle commercial and military, as well as civilian, space issues; how space issues would be coordinated among Federal agencies; Earth observation programs; and the function of a Space Station. (Space News, Mar 22-28/93)
An article in Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that Europe was about to decide how to parcel out $1.5 billion in new science and exploration space missions. Roger Bonnet, director of science at the European Space Agency (ESA), was reported as saying that ESA would focus on "all European" programs in order to distance itself from the troubles and uncertainties of space cooperation with the U.S. He noted, "We will now study missions in the context of a European framework to be sure we can handle them in ESA, then define cooperation afterward.".
The biggest European decision would focus on development of a $600-700-million infrared telescope that could detect the most primitive matter in the universe and Project Rosetta, an $800-million mission that would be the first to sample the surface of a comet. (AV Wk, Mar 22/93)
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