Oct 25 1994
From The Space Library
Observations from Space Shuttles and other vehicles revealed a clearly visible line stretching for hundreds of miles across the Pacific Ocean. The dark green line, from one to several miles wide, was attributed by scientists to an abundance of microscopic plants that thrived where cold, nutrient-rich water from polar seas met warm equatorial currents. New observations of the interaction between these two currents were made from the NOAA-11 weather satellite and NASA's P-3 research aircraft flying 500 feet above the water. (NY Times, Oct 25/94; AP, Oct 31/94)
An obituary of Myron S. Malkin described him as the physicist who was the first director of the Space Shuttle program from 1973 to 1980. He served as a consultant to NASA and was in the control room for the Shuttle's first flight in April 1981. (AP, Oct 25/94; NY Times, Oct 26/94)
NASA was scheduled to open a new facility, the Global Hydrology and Climate Center, in Cummings Research Park West in Huntsville, Alabama, October 27. The focus of the Center's $15 million annual program was to study Earth's water cycle and the ways in which it affected climate. Research would involve collection and analysis of rainfall, lightning, and temperature data on a global scale, according to Center director Ron Greenwood. The Center was to house 42 scientists from Marshall Space Flight Center, 59 from the University Space Research Association, and 46 faculty, staff, and students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin was present to open the Center, which was to operate in cooperation with the other institutions mentioned and to concentrate on studying water vapor. (Htsvl Tms, Oct 25/94; Htsvl Tms, Oct 27/94)
In a press release, Jim Waterman, Boeing Space Station manufacturing manager, said that Boeing had built 18,700 pounds of hardware to date for the International Space Station and was on schedule to complete almost 50,000 pounds of hardware within the next year. Using the manufacturing facility at Marshall Space Flight Center originally built for fabricating Saturn rocket stages, it had made a good start on three pressurized modules for the Station as well as hatches and experiment racks. (Aerospace Daily, Oct 26/94)
Victor Blagov, deputy head of Russian space missions, said that the six cosmonauts on the aging Mir Space Station would have to ration electricity for several months after the craft's solar batteries were unexpectedly drained. Problems first appeared on October 11 after a powerful piece of electrical equipment suddenly sprang to life, shutting down part of the Station and running down four of the six batteries. Four other solar batteries could not be put aboard Mir until the middle of 1995. (Reuters, Oct 25/94)
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