Sep 5 1985
From The Space Library
As part of its FY 87 defense budget planning, the Department of Defense (DOD) approved a competition between the Northrop F-20 Tigershark and the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon as a fighter interceptor aircraft for the air defense fleet, Defense Daily reported. However, DOD had not decided how many prototype aircraft it would purchase for the competition.
Although a FY 86 defense authorization bill specified a competition between the two aircraft, some members of the U.S. House wanted to direct the Air Force to set a minimum number of F-16 and F-20 fighters that it would procure in FY 86 and then institute the competition.
The possibility of a competition had set off a price war between Northrup and General Dynamics, with General Dynamics proposing a specially configured F-16C to compete in cost and effectiveness with the F-20. (D/D, Sept 5/86, 12)
NASA and the U.S. Air Force announced today that the Space Shuttle Atlantis would take off October 3 on its maiden voyage to carry a secret payload into orbit, the Washington Post reported. On board Atlantis, the fourth and final Space Shuttle in NASA's fleet, would be commander Karol Bobko, pilot Ronald Grabe, mission specialists David Hilmers and Robert Stewart, and payload specialist Air Force Maj. William Pailes.
Pailes, who has a master's degree in computer science and is an accomplished pilot, would be on board to tend the classified cargo. (W Post, Sept 6/ 85, Al2)
NASA announced that Lewis Research Center (LeRC) opened the Microgravity Materials Science Laboratory (MMSL) to aid scientists on earth in determining what was and was not feasible for science experiments in space [see NASA Installations/Lewis Research Center, Aug. 26].
“The MMLS will permit U.S. government, university, and industry researchers to conduct scientific experiments using equipment that functionally duplicates equipment aboard the Space Shuttle,” explained Salvatore Grisaffe, chief of the LeRC materials division. “Access to such a laboratory will give U.S. companies a competitive advantage in developing better materials through microgravity research.” Other microgravity research facilities at LeRC included two drop towers in which experiment packages could free-fall up to 500 feet, achieving a weightless condition for up to five seconds, and the Lewis Lear jet, which could fly parabolic trajectories to achieve a microgravity environment inside the plane for up to 22 seconds.
The MMSL was one part of NASA's microgravity science and applications program, which fostered research in the science and technology of processing materials in low gravity. The aims of the program were to obtain a clearer understanding of the factors controlling earth-based processes to guide their improvement and development of new materials that could not be made on earth and procedures to support long-term space operations.
The Space Shuttle then offered up to seven days for microgravity experimentation; the proposed space station eventually would provide a very long term microgravity research and materials processing capability. However, the most efficient use of such space resources demanded that experimental procedures be based on a firm scientific understanding with extensive prior ground-based examination. (NASA Release 85-123)
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