May 27 1994
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Atlantis, refitted over a 19-month period at a cost of $96 million to enable it to dock with Mir, was expected to arrive at Kennedy Space Center from its overhaul at Rockwell Space Systems Division in Palmdale, California. The plan was for Atlantis to dock with Mir during a series of 10 shuttle flights between 1995 and 1997. Other modifications were designed to make Atlantis safer. Atlantis' return means limited space at Kennedy Space Center for processing the various Shuttles. (Fla Today, May 27/94; AP, May 29/94; W Post, May 30/94; Fla Today, Jun 1/94)
NASA announced the selection of six Hispanic-serving universities to receive five-year, Institutional Research Award grants for multidisciplinary research in science and engineering. The universities were to receive $400,000 the first year, $600,000 the second year, $800,000 the third year, and $1 million in the fourth and fifth years, for a total of $3.8 million over the five-year period. The universities selected were: California State University at Los Angeles; Florida International University, Miami; New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas; City College of New York; University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras; and University of Texas at San Antonio. (NASA Release 94-85)
NASA announced that scientists at its Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, had discovered unusual gamma-ray flashes in the upper atmosphere high above thunderstorms. The heretofore unseen flashes were detected by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment, a Marshall instrument aboard NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. (NASA Release 94-86; W Post, May 30/94)
NASA announced that Space Shuttle astronaut William E. Thornton would retire from NASA on May 31. (NASA Release 94-87)
Jon Linderman, a National Research Council fellow at NASA's Ames Research Center, said that, based on experiments with rats, exercise combined with growth hormone may help prevent muscle atrophy in astronauts, seniors, and patients confined to bed following illness or injury. Russian cosmonauts discovered that extensive exercise alone was insufficient to prevent muscle atrophy. (UP, May 27/94; UP, Jun 3/94)
As a result of an investigation by NASA's Inspector General, Omniplan Corporation, with offices near the Johnson Space Center, four related companies, and five employees, together with the Chief Executive Officer Ralph Montijo Jr. and his wife, Guillermina, were named in a Federal grand jury indictment. They were charged with conspiracy to present false claims to NASA, embezzling from an employee benefits plan, money laundering, and making false statements to NASA, the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency. The company had been previously indicted for allegedly swindling $4 million from NASA and its own employees. Omniplan subcontracted through Rockwell Space Operations Company to write flight plan documentation for the Space Shuttle. The government filed a lawsuit to try to recover $3.75 million. (H Post, May 28/94)
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