yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (12/19/89)
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Monday, Dec. 18, 1989 Audio: 202/755-1788
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This is NASA Headline News for Monday, December 18th......
Continuing problems at Pad 39A over the weekend have forced the
postponment of plans to launch the space shuttle Columbia on
Thursday, December 21st. Shuttle managers are meeting this
morning to assess work on the launch pad and the orbiter, and are
expected to announce a new launch date later this afternoon.
The Martin Marietta Corporation is preparing to launch its first
Titan 3 rocket...carrying British and Japanese communications
satellites...tonight. Liftoff from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station is scheduled for 7:20 P.M. Eastern
time. Forecasters are predicting a 40 percent chance of rain and
thick clouds that could violate launch guidelines.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology yesterday released
photographs of Soviet equipment designed to land men on the moon.
Edward Crawley, an MIT professor who was one of the scientists
who saw and photographed the spacecrafts, said, "the existence of
this hardware is perhaps the most conclusive evidence to date
that there was, in fact, a race to the moon and that the Soviet
Union had a concrete plan to land cosmonauts there in the
1960's." Crawley said the equipment--a lunar landing craft and
return-to-Earth module--were never used because the Soviets
failed to overcome problems with the N1 booster rockets needed to
place the spacecrafts in orbit.
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Here's the broadcast schedule for public affairs events on NASA
Select television. All times are Eastern.
Thursday, Dec. 21.....
11:30 A.M. NASA Update will be transmitted.
All events and times are subject to change without notice.
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