May 19 1980
From The Space Library
AP said that NASA and DOE had awarded Boeing Aerospace a $296,000 contract to study disposal of nuclear waste (long-lived radionuclides radioactive for thousands of years) in space: whether to launch the "nuclear trash" on an unmanned rocket, or by a manned Shuttle whose crew would eject it in orbit and propel it further out; where in space to put it; how to protect it during launch and in space; and how to retrieve it in case of an abort at liftoff. (NASA Release 80-69; MSFC Release 80-69; AP in W Post, May 21/80, A-5)
NASA announced that it had renewed a cost-plus-management-fee contract with the Universities Space Research Association for management and operation of the Lunar and Planetary Institute. The fee through March 31, 1982, would be $4,292,700. Work would be done at the institute, adjoining JSC in Houston.
The institute, a focal point for the lunar and planetary science community to pursue solid-body geosciences such as mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry, was created in October 1968 in response to NASAs quest for a university consortium to work with. The association was incorporated the following March as a means for universities and other research organizations to work with each other and with NASA in space research. (NASA Release 80-73)
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