[net.columbia] Columbia benched?

brt@pyuxvv.UUCP (B Reytblat) (09/20/83)

This monday's AWST has a half-page article on the benching of OV102
(a.k.a. USS COLUMBIA) . In essence , the decision to mothball it for two
years was made by the lower echelon of management and had to do with the
fact that Rockwell Intl. is too busy with th B1-B project to get to
COLUMBIA for at least 14 month . It would have been cheaper to mothball it
for while than to keep it flying . But J.Beggs , (NASA's administrator ?),
upon hearing of this , reversed the decision . So now , JSC and KSC are
faced with reworking the shuttle manifest , to find some work for COLUMBIA.
One of the candidate missions would be another flight of the ESA Spacelab-1.

			...!pyuxvv!brt	(B.Reytblat , AT&T-BL , PY )