Mar 14 1991
From The Space Library
NASA announced that as a result of the work of its Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, the arcjet thruster technology had been selected for station keeping use on AT&T's Telstar 4 communications satellites. Arcjet systems offer a significant improvement in propellant use over chemical and other electrically augmented thrusters, thus increasing the satellite's on-orbit lifetime or payload mass. (NASA Release 91-40)
Fairfax County Board Chairman Audrey Moore argued that if NASA's Space Station management facility were moved from its Reston, Virginia headquarters, at least half of its highly skilled workers would quit, delaying the Space Station program for months or years. The questioning about the status of the Reston facility resulted from a congressional order to NASA in 1990 that it overhaul the management structure for the Space Station project. (W Post, Mar 14/91)
Chase Manhattan Bank granted $64 million five-year financing to SPACEHAB Inc. SPACEHAB was building a large pressurized chamber to fit into the storage bay of the Space Shuttle, giving the astronauts or technicians more room to run experiments. SPACEHAB planned to send its first unit aloft in December 1992. It obtained capital from McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company, Aeritalia of Italy, which was designing and building most of the module and its thermal controls, and the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. (NY Times, Mar 14/91)
Grumman Corporation announced a cut of 110 more employees at its Space Station Program Support Division in Reston, Virginia. The cuts resulted from NASA's decision to reduce the scope of the Space Station project. (PR Newswire, Mar 13/91; W Times, Mar 14/91; NY Times, Mar 14/91)
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