Sep 9 1991
From The Space Library
According to the New York Times, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was completing arrangements to get exclusive use of the European weather satellite Meteosat-3. The purpose would be to move it further west to cover the United States more thoroughly if the U.S. weather satellite, GOES-7, were to fail. NASA was several years behind in the development of new U.S. weather satellites, the GOES-NEXT, originally scheduled to begin operating in 1989 but now probably late 1992 at the earliest. Subsequently, several newspapers reported arrangements made for the United States to borrow at least one and possibly more European weather satellites. (NY Times, Sep 9/91; W Post, Sep 14/91; NY Times, Sep 15/91; B Sun, Sep 15/91)
In a detailed presentation accompanied by a statistical table, the Wall Street Journal recounted the planned and actual flight dates and costs of NASA space projects to date. It concluded that the UARS flight of Discovery was the only one to stay within its cost projection, but it would be almost two years late. (WSJ, Sep 9/91)
A space publication printed an adapted version of Senator Dale Bumpers' (Democrat from Arkansas) speech when he introduced legislation in July to cut funding on the NASA Space Station drastically. He favored solving U.S. problems on the ground, not in space. The same issue carried remarks of Senator Jim Sasser (Democrat from Tennessee) that the Space Station was something the United States could not afford. Furthermore, the magazine carried an interview with Jim Beggs, chairman of SPACEHAB Inc. and former NASA Administrator, concerning his organization's relationship to NASA. (SP News, Sep 9-15/91)
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