Jan 6 1995
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
During an occultation of the comet Chiron and a star, an airborne NASA observatory was used to help determine the size of this comet that orbits like a planet in a nearly circular orbit in our solar system. According to an international team of scientists, Chiron is between 103 and 193 miles in diameter and 20 times the size of Halley’s Comet. The Kuiper Airborne Observatory flew near Recife, Brazil, on this project. Chiron orbits the Sun once in 50 years. (NY Times, Jan 10/95; UPI, Jan 6/95)
NASA's Space Station came under attack at a press conference by Senator Dale Bumpers (D-Ark) and several other Democratic senators. Bumpers introduced legislation in the Senate that would kill the Space Station program along with six defense projects. (Htsvl Tms, Jan 6/95)
Several Senate Democrats proposed a $33 billion package to balance the budget by the year 2002 by cutting defense and space programs. The package included elimination of NASA's Space Station for a savings of $10 billion over five years. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan 6/95; H Chron, Jan 6/95, Jan 8/92; Greensboro News & Record, Jan 6/95; News and Record, Jan 6/95)
Data collected from a NASA airborne observatory fitted with a 36-inch telescope helped astronomers estimate the size of the largest known comet, Chiron. This comet is between 100 and 187 miles in diameter, 20 times the size of Haley's comet. (AP, Jan 8/95)
At a hearing of the House of Representatives Science Committee, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin testified that NASA had experienced a 30 percent budget cut in the last two years but said he was prepared to oversee a "cleanup" of NASA management. He asked Congress not to ask for any more cost-saving redesigns of the space station. Goldin said the Agency was committed to change by functioning more efficiently with less money and by forming more partnerships with business to enhance the transfer of the latest technical information to industry. (UPI, Jan 6/95; Gannet News Service, Jan 6/95; Federal News Service, Jan 6/95; H Chron, Jan 7/95; NY Times, Jan 7/95; W Post, Jan 7/95; APn, Jan 6/95)
After the successful launch of a satellite called "Wind," NASA gave the manufacturer, Martin Marietta Astro Space, the go-ahead to build a second satellite called" Polar." The purpose of both satellites is to measure the forces of solar wind. (Star-Ledger, Jan 6/95)
An air-safety computer system developed by NASA at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in 1985 had yet to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Takeoff Performance Monitor was designed to help pilots handle takeoff mishaps more quickly and safely, but airlines, manufacturers, and Federal Aviation Administration officials said the cost and liability burdens outweighed the benefits. Troublesome takeoffs occur less than 1 percent of the time but account for 10 percent of all serious airplane accidents, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. (CSM, Jan 6/95)
NASA's Johnson Space Center denied Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Co. a large profit fee because of poor performance under a tougher procurement compliance policy implemented by the space agency in 1994. (H Chron, Jan 7/95)
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