August 1990
From The Space Library
“Epilogue to a Space Odyssey”, “Neptune: Voyager's Last Picture Show” and “Voyage of the Century” articles appear in National Geographic Magazine
Joseph B. Mahon, Deputy Associate Administrator, and astronaut Michael J. McCulley announced they would retire. Mahon had served with NASA for almost 30 years, managing and directing untended launch vehicles, Shuttle carrier systems, and Spacelab operations. Captain McCulley, who planned to retire from the Navy, was to join Lockheed Space Operations Company and be involved with day-to-day processing of Space Shuttle vehicles. (NASA Release 90-116; 90-119)
NASA announced the selection of Margaret G. Finarelli as Acting Associate Administrator for External Relations, and the names of microgravity mission payload specialist candidates. Finarelli, who had been Deputy Associate Administrator since December 1988, would temporarily replace Kenneth S. Pedersen, who had taken a one-year teaching assignment with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Candidates for payload specialists for the March 1992 STS-53 Space Shuttle mission were Lawrence J. DeLucas, Joseph Prahl, Albert Sacco, and Eugene H. Trinh. (NASA Release 90-107; 90-108)
A Government industry board selected the gas generator power cycle engine, similar to the J-2 engine used on the Saturn moon rockets, for the rocket engine to be designed and built to power the NASA/USAF Advanced Launch System. Chosen over the closed expander power cycle, the engine would power next century launch vehicles, capable of delivering a wide range of payloads into Earth orbit at a reduced cost. (NASA Release 90-113)
In a flight test that concluded in August, NASA, the Air Force, and Boeing Commercial Airline Group announced better-than-expected findings taken from the results of modifying a 22-foot section of a Boeing 757 wing. The design reduced drag in what could equate to 10 percent if the entire span of both wings had been modified. A one-percent reduction would have amounted to a $100 million annual savings in fuel costs for the U.S. airline industry. (NASA Release 90-115)
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