Oct 18 1993
From The Space Library
NASA officials announced that the Hubble Space Telescope had provided the most detailed look yet at Comet Shoemaker-Levy 5, which was hurtling toward a July 1994 collision with the planet Jupiter. Hubble's high resolution images showed that the approximately 20 objects that make up the comet are much smaller than originally estimated from observations with ground-based telescopes. (NASA Release 93-188; USA Today, Oct 15/93; S F Chron, Oct 15/93; RTW, Oct 14/93; W Post, Oct 25/93)
NASA took action to limit expenditures on the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) program. NASA informed its field installations involved with the ASRM that if the pending appropriations bill becomes law, it would require termination of the ASRM program. (NASA Release 93-189)
Antarctic ozone levels have reached record lows, according to data obtained by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Lab, Boulder, Colorado. Record low levels were recorded at the South Pole Station, Antarctica, at the end of September and early October 1993 and confirmed by satellite measurements. (NASA Release 93-190; B Sun, Oct 16/93; AP, Oct 18/93; NY Times, Oct 19/93; W Post, Oct 19/93; USA Today, Oct 19/93)
The United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency (ESA) have invited Russia to help them build a new Space Station, according to an announcement by the ESA. (RTW, Oct 18/93; NASA Release N93-650)
Space Shuttle Columbia, carrying seven astronauts, 48 rats, and a medical research lab, blasted into orbit for a record 14 days of experiments to team more about keeping astronauts healthy during long voyages in weightlessness. The research was also expected to shed light on other health issues, including hypertension, anemia, and osteoporosis. This mission was only the second mission in 58 Shuttle trips focused entirely on medical research.
For most of the planned investigations, astronauts were to serve as both experimenters and subjects, donating blood, saliva, and urine samples for post-flight analysis. They also planned to participate in several tests to characterize changes in the vision, balance, perception, and other senses affected by the loss of gravity.
The launch, which took place four days late after two earlier launch attempts had been derailed by bad weather and technical problems, had a trouble-free countdown. The Shuttle was scheduled to land November 1 at Edwards Air Force Base. (UPI, Oct 18/93: RTW, Oct 18/93; AP, Oct 18/93, Oct 20/93; B Sun, Oct 19/93; USA Today, Oct 19/93; W Post, Oct 19/93; RTW, Oct 19/93; NY Times, Oct 20/03)
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