Feb 24 1994
From The Space Library
Spence Armstrong, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Resources, stated that in order to cut more than 1,000 jobs as Congress ordered, NASA needed to offer buyouts to staff. To restructure the Space Station Freedom project, NASA had to cut 1,300 positions, but employees were not leaving in normal attrition numbers-an attrition of only 600 to 700 persons was predicted for fiscal 1994, without buyouts. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said further cuts would endanger NASA's entire mission. The Vice President's "reinventing government" group said NASA needed to accelerate its job cuts but stick with attrition and buyouts rather than reductions in force. The group offered no specifics as to positions NASA should cut. (Federal Times, Feb 24/94)
Bernadette Cardenas, an aerospace engineer at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, filed a civil suit against astronaut Lt. Col. Charles (Sam) Gemar and his wife Charlene, also a NASA employee. The suit claimed the Gemars had harassed her mentally and physically; Mrs. Cardenas wanted to force Col. Gemar to submit to blood tests to establish paternity for her two-year-old son. NASA said the lawsuit would not prevent Gemar's participation in the forth-coming shuttle mission. (AP, Feb 24/94; NY Times, Feb 25/94; B Sun, Feb 25/94; USA Today, Feb 25/94)
U.S. astronauts Norman Thagard and Bonnie Dunbar arrived in Russia to begin their yearlong training. The training was to stress physical conditioning, essential for long-duration space flights in order to counter bone and muscle deterioration. The astronauts were to wear Russian space suits bearing both Russian and U.S. flags. (AP, Feb 24/94; AP, Feb 28/94; UP, Feb 28/94)
Celebrating National Engineers Week, more than 20 engineers from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center visited classrooms around Antelope Valley to discuss their careers. (Antelope Valley Press, Feb 24/94)
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