Jul 2 1996
From The Space Library
NASA successfully launched its Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Earth Probe (TOMS-EP) aboard the Japanese Advanced Earth Observing Satellite, via an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base. A jet flying roughly 7 miles above the California coast released the rocket that was carrying the satellite, placing the TOMS-EP in a successful orbit. The McMurdo Sound Tracking Station in Antarctica acquired the satellite almost immediately and determined that the spacecraft was functioning properly. After it reached a circular orbit, the TOMS-EP was ready to conduct its scientific mission.
Paul F. Holloway, Director of Langley Research Center (LARC) in Hampton, Virginia, announced his retirement. Holloway had served at LARC for his entire aerospace career, beginning in 1960. He became the Center's Director in 1991, overseeing 4,500 employees and a budget of more than US$600 million. During his tenure, Holloway published 42 technical articles in the fields of hypersonic aerodynamics; boundary layer transition and flow separation; analysis of entry flight mechanics; and Earth orbital and planetary space missions. NASA awarded Holloway its Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, and Equal Employment Opportunity Medal. Holloway also received the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Service and two Senior Executive Service Distinguished Presidential Rank Awards. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin summarized Holloway's contributions to NASA, saying that his "career spans almost the entire history of the Space Age, and his many achievements at Langley are a tribute to his talent, his professionalism, and his dedication to the importance of NASA aeronautical programs.
Lockheed Martin won the contract to design and build the X-33 test vehicle, a scaled-down model of the reusable launch vehicle (RLV) that NASA planned as an eventual replacement for the Space Shuttle. NASA set a budget of US$941 million for the project. In announcing the new contract, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin expressed NASA's high hopes for the project: "We want to develop technologies that will allow industry to build a vehicle that takes days, not months, to turnaround; dozens, not thousands of people to operate; reliability ten times better than anything flying today; and launch costs that are a tenth of what they are now. Our goal is a reusable launch vehicle that will cut the cost of sending a pound of payload to orbit from [US]$10,000 to [US]$1,000." Lockheed planned to invest US$220 million in the RLV project. The X-33 plan built upon the successful engineering of the Clipper Graham (DC-XA), launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The agreement between NASA and Lockheed Martin split the risk between government and industry. Although NASA passed over Rockwell International for the contract, Rockwell designed the vehicle's engine.
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