Mar 15 2007
From The Space Library
NASA announced the winning entry of the competition to name the Node 2 module of the ISS: the module’s name would be Harmony. The Node 2 module, built in Europe for NASA and scheduled to launch aboard STS-120 in 2007, would serve as a central hub for the ISS’s science laboratories. More than 2,000 students from 32 states had participated in the competition, and six schools had submitted the name “Harmony.” According to the rules of the contest, students had learned about the ISS, built a scale model, and written an essay explaining their proposed name for the module. A panel of NASA educators, engineers, scientists, and senior managers had selected the name because it symbolized the “spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station, as well as the module’s specific role in connecting the international partner modules.”
NASA, “NASA Space Station Module in Perfect ‘Harmony’ with New Name,” news release 07-65, 15 March 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/mar/HQ_07065_Node_2_Naming_Announcement.html (accessed 14 October 2009).
The House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing on NASA’s fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget request, receiving testimony from NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin. On 5 February, President George W. Bush had presented to Congress NASA’s proposed US$17.3 billion budget for FY 2008, as a component of the federal budget, including US$4 billion for five Space Shuttle flights and US$2.24 billion for ISS activities. Administrator Griffin urged Congress to fund NASA’s FY 2008 Exploration Systems request fully, enabling NASA to develop the Orion and the Ares-I crew vehicles. He cautioned that NASA was unlikely to succeed in bringing new exploration capabilities online by 2014 because of several factors, including the cost of retiring the Space Shuttle and making the transition to the new vehicle, the cost of supporting the ISS, and the impact of the overall reduction in funding for NASA mandated by the FY 2007 Continuing Resolution. However, Griffin stated that NASA would continue to “transition the workforce, infrastructure, and equipment from the Space Shuttle to new Exploration systems.” Committee Chair Bart Gordon (D-TN) criticized the Bush administration’s failure to recommend the funding levels necessary to support the exploration initiative, the ISS, the termination of the Space Shuttle program, and the upgrade of the aging Deep Space Network.
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, “NASA’s Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request,” 110th Cong., 1st Sess., 15 March, 2007, 28, http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg33803/pdf/CHRG-110hrg33803.pdf (accessed 20 December 2010); U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, “NASA’s ‘Lean’ Budgetary Outlook Will Have Wide-Ranging Impact on Agency Programs,” press release, 15 March 2007, http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1724 (accessed 28 September 2010).
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