May 12 1994
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced that NASA would stop work on the Polar spacecraft and would continue with pre-launch activities on the Wind spacecraft. Work on Polar was to resume only after the Wind spacecraft had operated successfully on-orbit and after a reevaluation of resources needed to complete the program within budgetary limits. (NASA Release 94-75; SP News, May 16-22/94)
NASA staff at the Kennedy Space Center began moving into a new $72 million building where all U.S., European, Japanese, and Canadian station hardware were to be prepared for launch. The modern computers and equipment in the new control rooms were commended particularly in the media. (Fla Today, May 13/94; B Sun, Jun 2/94; W Post, Jun 2/94; 0 Sen Star, Jun 2/94; CSM, Jun 3/94)
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin gave the commencement address at Tullahoma to 22 University of Tennessee Space Institute graduates. He said Congress had been supportive but the Nation needed to decide where it was going. America used to have a vision and be willing to take risks, but it had lost confidence in itself and was willing to settle for mediocrity. He pointed out that the cost of the entire space program "was only a quarter of a percent of the gross national product" so canceling one program would not solve the Nation's problems. (Htsvl Tins, May 13/94; Independent, May 14/94)
While visiting the University of Tennessee, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said NASA had to share responsibility for the failure of the canceled Commercial Experimental Transporter (Comet) spacecraft program. The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) managed the project, which involved other universities and private contractors. The goal was to provide a lower cost alternative for ferrying private industrial experiments into orbit. Goldin said UTSI was not to blame for the cost overruns that nearly doubled the project's price; in retrospect, NASA should have been more active and offered help to UTSI. (AP, May 13/94)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
