Jun 12 1985
From The Space Library
Approximately 200 NASA management officials and contractors met June 12 and 13 at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to discuss initiatives to improve quality and productivity in NASA/contractor operations, the Marshall Star reported. The first NASA/Hardware Contractors Productivity Conference was at MSFC in April 1984.
Attendees at the 1985 conference heard an interim report on the status of activities implemented as a result of the 1984 meeting and related recommendations. NASA and contractor panels discussed topics such as quality in relationship to productivity; productivity and quality initiatives and incentives; efforts toward implementing participative management techniques; and improvement in specification, preplanning, and measurement.
The conference was part of NASA’s continuing effort to provide national leadership in the development and application of advanced technology and management practices. During fiscal year 1984, about 85% of NASA's $7.2 billion budget was placed with contractors. "It's very important," said William Reynolds, associate director for management in MSFC's science and engineering directorate, "that NASA’s productivity effort include an improved relationship with the NASA hardware and service/support contractors." (Marshall Star, June 12/85, 1)
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that, as a result of decisions made January 30 and 31 at its council meeting in Rome, it had created an earth observation and microgravity directorate, a telecommunications directorate, and, due to the magnitude of ESA's Columbus program, a directorate dedicated to that program.
The ESA Council at its June 11 and 12 meeting made the following nominations to the new director posts: Philip Goldsmith, United Kingdom, director of earth observation and microgravity program; Giorgio Salvator, Italy, director of telecommunications; and Dr. Fredrik Engstrom, Sweden, director of the Columbus program.
In addition, the council appointed Marius Le Fevre, France, to the post of director of ESA's space research and technology establishment. (ESA Release, June 12/85)
Geoffrey Perry of the United Kingdom's Kettering Group said the radio aboard the Soviet Salyut 7 space station came on the air June 12, indicating the two cosmonauts who entered it had been successful in repair efforts, Aerospace Daily reported. Perry said he had received no radio signals from the Salyut for some time, supporting the belief of Western observers that the space station experienced some kind of electrical problem since the last cosmonauts had left it in October 1984.
Perry noted the cosmonauts were transmitting on June 12 from 7:09 a.m. to 7:16 a.m. GMT on the Soyuz frequency, but by 8:46 a.m. GMT, the next time they were within his radio range, they had switched to the Salyut frequency. (ND, June 13/85, 2)
NASA Administrator James Beggs stirred up a controversy when he reportedly told a Washington gathering of the American Stock Exchange that the Soviets had "turned us down, flat, with no explanation" on the proposal of a joint space mission, the Washington Times reported. Later NASA spokesman Miles Waggoner said the Soviets had not rejected the idea, but a joint manned space mission was not likely to happen within the next few years.
President Reagan had offered the Soviets a chance to participate in a cooperative space venture about a year previously. The Soviets responded that they believed it was not the time to fly that kind of mission. "To us, that means the item is still open," Waggoner said. "This time, though, Mr. Beggs decided to look at it from the other perspective." Other NASA officials, indicating the agency hadn't received any new word from the Soviets about the proposal, speculated Beggs might have said what he did to provoke a reaction from them.
Originally, NASA planners envisioned a joint practice rescue mission in which a U.S. astronaut would use a jet backpack called a manned maneuvering unit (MMU) to fly from a Space Shuttle to a Soviet Salyut space station. The astronaut might also use the MMU to push a cosmonaut back to the Space Shuttle for a brief time. (W Times, June 12/85, 4A)
Chilean government member Admiral Jose Toribio Merino said today that he favored accepting the NASA request to build a Space Shuttle emergency landing airfield on Easter Island and that it was essential to build a port for the operation of larger and faster ships, FBIS Santiago Radio Chilena in Spanish reported. "If someone offers to extend the Easter Island airport," Merino said, "we should accept because Chile does not have the money to do it." The need to supplement the project with the construction of a port for security reasons was a new element added by Merino to the NASA proposal. Merino explained that the operation of an international airport near the sea called for fast ships to act in case a plane went down in the ocean. It was imperative to have a port for the operation of such ships, and Easter Island had only a small bay, he said. "If someone offers to build a port, I would let them," he added.
In referring to criticism of the project because of possible military uses of the airfield, Merino said that those who said that about the project were "ignorant people who were politicians in the past but not now." (Santiago Radio Chilena in Spanish, June 12/85)
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