May 26 1994
From The Space Library
Major Oleg Kulakovsky of the Military Space Forces, the branch of the Russian army that runs Baikonur Cosmodrome, was quoted as saying that people were leaving adjacent Leninsk because "there's nothing to stay for." The population was said to have fallen from 100,000 to 45,000 since Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Kazakhstan has a severe energy crisis and a chronic water shortage, which contribute to the harsh life for the population. Since the first Soviet manned space flight by Yuri A. Gagarin in 1961, Baikonur has averaged one launch a month, according to General Oleg Goryushkin, space center deputy commander. However, the space industry appears to be undergoing a crisis of confidence, and in view of Russia's economic crisis, the cost of maintaining Baikonur is being questioned. (UP, May 26/94)
NASA announced that the Clementine mission, sponsored by the Department of Defense Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, had completed systematic mapping of the lunar surface to produce the first global digital map of the Moon. NASA's Clementine science team mapped the topography and composition of major regions of the Moon in detail and produced other important science results released at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Baltimore, Maryland. The digital data cover 38 million square kilometers of the Moon mapped in 11 colors in the visible and near infrared parts of the spectrum during the mission's 71 days in lunar orbit. (NASA Release 94-84; B Sun, May 27/94)
After the Senate decided to adjourn on May 25 for the Memorial Day holiday, the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that controls NASA spending postponed its initial hearings on NASA to June 7. (Fla Today, May 27/94)
In a speech to the American Geophysical Union, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin challenged scientists to establish an ambitious new goal for space science that would unite competing research disciplines and resurrect public excitement. As a possible goal, Goldin suggested that NASA commit itself to finding habitable planets outside the solar system. (SP News, May 30-Jun 12/94)
Bowman Cutter, deputy assistant to the President for economic policy, took a lead in developing a space policy for the administration, according to a statement he made on May 26. As a first step, he convened a meeting May 13 at the White House with a diverse and bipartisan group of industry representatives, NASA managers, military officers, and academicians to discuss the space program's future. Although there was some talk about the Space Station, the major emphasis was on longer-term policy. Rather than new programs, White House officials said the focus was to be on streamlining NASA's bureaucracy, focusing research and development to help private industry, and pushing small missions to demonstrate advanced technologies. (SP News, May 30-Jun 12/94)
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