Jul 26 1993
From The Space Library
The Washington Post reported that U.S. and Russian scientists would meet in Washington during the week to discuss ways to cooperate on U.S. and Russian Space Stations and possibly merge the two stations in the late 1990s.
The Post said that Vice President Al Gore was leading the White House initiative on this subject. (RTW, Jul 26/93; W Post, Jul 26/93)
Writing in the Washington Post, Boyce Rensberger identified two points of view on global warming. James Hansen, a Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist, asserted that Earth's atmosphere has been warming since the mid-1970s. He said that his readings indicated that the lower atmosphere's average temperature rose by about a quarter of a degree Fahrenheit in the late 1980s before the eruption of Mount Pinatubo chilled the air. Christy and Roy Spencer of NASA's Marshall Flight Center have a different opinion. They maintain that, overall, there had been no warming trend.
Why the difference? Christy Spencer said that their data came from satellite readings taken over the entire globe while the data used by Hansen came from thermometers, most in industrial areas, which can be "heat islands" and hence give artificially high readings. Hansen countered that this factor had been taken into account in the readings and noted potential problems with the accuracy of the satellite readings. Rensberger concluded that, given such ambiguous results, the clamor to "do something" about global warming remains largely an emotionally guided phenomenon. (W Post, Jul 26/93)
The Senate approved legislation during the previous week requiring the Smithsonian Institution to build a proposed annex to the National Air and Space Museum near Dulles International Airport. The bill already had passed the House, and President Clinton was expected to sign it. (W Post, Jul 26/93)
A NASA study of safety in the Space Shuttle program found that honest mistakes go unreported if workers fear blunders can cost their jobs. The study found no major safety concerns but said managers had not bridged the communications gap identified in the investigation of the 1986 Challenger disaster. The report said that "exaggerated" news coverage of safety-related incidents led to the mistaken perception among workers that reporting incidents and mistakes might result in punitive action. (RTW, Jul 26/93)
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin notified employees in a memo distributed the previous week that the scaled-back Space Station would mean the loss of about 1,300 jobs among Federal workers alone. Space Station work involved 2,300 of NASA's 24,000 employees. (AP, Jul 26/93; Sp News, Jul 26-Aug 1/93; B Sun, Jul 27/93)
NASA began airborne mapping of Napa Valley to help winegrowers battle an aphid-like insect that nearly destroyed vineyards in France and California in the 19th century. Officials said a single-engine Cessna fitted with an electronic sensor would map 50 acres of the Robert Mondavi vineyards infected by phylloxera. (AP, Jul 7/93)
NASA announced an August 4 launch attempt for the Space Shuttle Discovery. (RTW, Jul 7/93; USA Today, Jul 28/93)
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