Jun 19 1991
From The Space Library
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the National Weather Service's one weather satellite was nearing the end of its life. However, NASA's next generation of satellites, one of which was to replace it, were three years behind schedule and $500 million over budget. The atmospheric sensor of the new model reportedly tested poorly, but NASA planned to launch it nevertheless. AP quoted Joan A. Knauss, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as saying that mean-while there were contingency plans to use both NOAA and Defense Department polar orbiting satellites and a European weather satellite to watch hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean.(P Inq, Jun 19/91; AP, Jun 19/91)
According to AP, the Shuttle Columbia left California on a piggyback jet ride to its home at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP, Jun 19/91)
UPI reported that NASA managers reviewed plans to resume routine Shuttle landings at Kennedy Space Center. The unpredictability of Florida's coastal weather was at issue but it was felt that improvements NASA made in the Shuttle fleet were such that routine landings could now occur. (UPI, Jun 19/91)
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, announced the selection of TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, California, for one Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer/Earth Probe Spacecraft (TOMS/EP). The contract was to provide for the design, development, fabrication, assembly, test, integration, launch, and post-launch support of the aircraft. (NASA Release C91-t)
According to Reuters, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel Star, Jean-Marie Luton, director general of the European Space Agency, said at a news conference at the Paris Air Show that plans to launch a European Space Shuttle were proceeding despite cost overruns and technical problems. (0 Sen Star, Jun 19/91)
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