baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/09/89)
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Wednesday, November 8, 1989 audio: 202/755-1788
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This is NASA headline news for Wednesday, November 8....
Taxi testing, takeoff, a captive flight and landing of the NASA
B-52 and the Pegasus air launched orbital booster is now
scheduled for Thursday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., weather
permitting. An attempt today was scrubbed. The test flight will
verify the integrity of the configuration prior to launch which
is expected sometime near the end of the year. If the test is
conducted tomorrow, a video tape replay of highlights is
scheduled for 4:00 p. m., eastern time, on NASA Select TV.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory reports that the Galileo spacecraft
has operated well since it was deployed from the orbiter Atlantis
last month. The flight team is continuing checkout of elements
of the spacecraft. Galileo instruments detected and
characterized the recent major solar flare activity that began
october 19. The first trajectory correction is scheduled for
later this week. Project officials say that nothing so far has
ruled out the possibility of an encounter with the asteroid
Gaspra between the first and second earth flybys.
The solar flare in late October has inflicted some damage to the
Magellan spacecraft's solar panels and star sensor system. A JPL
spokesman told United Press International that highly charged
particles streaming from the sun caused the Venus-bound
spacecraft to lose two percent of its power and upset star
calibrations for about a week.
A NASA-NOAA geological team says the recent California earthquake
resulted in a crustral movement of about 2 inches near Fort Ord
in the San Francisco bay area. The data were obtained by mobile
very long baseline interferometry systems. The measurements
were taken immediately after the quake by Goddard Space Flight
Center and NOAA geodetic survey scientists who have been
monitoring sites along the San Andreas fault since 1972.
Preparations for the next space shuttle launch continue at
Kennedy Space Center. The flight readiness test on the main
propulsion system is being conducted today. Launch of the STS-33
mission is set for November 20.
Ron Baalke | (818) 541-2341 x260
Jet Propulsion Lab M/S 301-355 | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
4800 Oak Grove Dr. |
Pasadena, CA 91109 |baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/10/89)
----------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, November 9, 1989 audio: 202/755-1788 ----------------------------------------------------------------- This is NASA headline news for Thursday, November 9.... Office of Space Flight and Space Station employees at NASA headquarters were briefed on the formal consolidation of the two organizations yesterday. The newly formed Office of Space Flight is headed by Dr. William B. Lenoir. George Abbey will serve as deputy associate administrator. The space flight organization now includes four major areas: space shuttle, space station Freedom, space flight systems and human resources and institutions. NASA and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency personnel at Dryden Flight research facility at Edwards Air Force Base are conducting taxi tests and a captive flight of the NASA-B-52/Pegasus air launched orbital booster today. The flight is the first of two that will qualify the project for its initial orbital flight mission. Video tape highlights of today's test will be broadcast over NASA Select TV at 4:00 p.m. ,eastern time, today. The Cosmic Background Explorer satellite...or COBE...is ready to be launched from Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., November 17. A media briefing will be held at Jet Propulsion Laboratory next Tuesday prior to the launch. Both events will be broadcast over NASA Select TV. The Washington Times says a Maryland communications satellite company...CONTEL ASC...has sued NASA for $70 million, "charging that the Space Agency breached a 1984 contract to launch Contel's ASC-2 communication satellite on the space shuttle". The suit was filed in late September to recover the difference between the cost of a commercial and a shuttle launch. Final preparations for the launch of the DOD STS-33 mission November 20 continue at Kennedy Space Center. As on previous DOD missions, NASA Select Television will provide only launch and landing video of the event. Although a four hour launch period opens at 6:30 p.m., eastern time, the exact time of the launch is classified. Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Lab M/S 301-355 | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 4800 Oak Grove Dr. | Pasadena, CA 91109 |