May 4 1994
From The Space Library
NASA Program Manager for Human Systems Technology in the Office of Aeronautics, Washington, DC, announced that NASA was designing an electronic chart to make flying safer for aerial firefighters who often fly in potentially dangerous conditions above forest fires. The Electronic Chart Display being developed at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, shows pilots an area's terrain and obstacles on a computer screen. (NASA Release 94-69)
NASA recognized 24 students from public and private schools across the United States as winners in its 14th annual Space Science Student Involvement Program. Co-sponsored by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association, the program involved more than 4,000 students in elementary, junior high, and high school who competed in five categories: mathematics, science, technology, art, and creative writing. In addition to being recognized in Washington at the National Space Symposium, May 7-11, students were to have the chance of interning at a NASA Field Center for a week in summer and to receive a Space Camp scholarship. (NASA Release 94-70)
NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, announced the selection of EG&G Langley, Inc., Hampton, Virginia, for a contract to provide maintenance, construction, and engineering support for the Center. (NASA Release C94-m)
Interfax news agency reported that following unsuccessful talks with Kazakhstan about extending the use of its traditional base at Baikonur, Russia planned to launch a post-Soviet space ship in 1996 from its own territory, using the rocket complex at the city Svobodny-18 in the northeastern Amur region. (Reuters, May 5/94)
Jack Levine, Director of Flight Programs in NASA's Office of Advanced Concepts and Technology, said that after considering the findings of a technical review panel, NASA decided to cut off funding for the Commercial Experiments Transporter (Comet) in FY 94. Comet was conceived as an alter-native to the Space Shuttle; it would use an expendable rocket to orbit commercial experiments, some of which would be brought back to Earth aboard a recovery capsule after 30 days. Costs exceeded estimates and for that reason and the panel's findings, NASA decided to discontinue the program. (Defense Daily, May 5/94)
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin gave an impassioned defense of NASA to a group of aerospace executives attending an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in suburban Washington. He described the budget fight as part of Congress's continuing effort to turn the space program into a "debating society" and said it was time for the talk to stop. He deplored the fact that NASA was not given enough money to create a space program about which American youth could dream. Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican from Wisconsin, who sat next to Goldin, in contrast spoke of "a fatally flawed space station program" on which space dollars should not he risked. (0 Sen Star, May 5/94; Space News, May 9/94)
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