Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 10:18:40 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #147 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Fri, 12 Feb 93 Volume 16 : Issue 147 Today's Topics: Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle Clinton's Promises (space) in Charlotte Observer Clinton Email Address Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 Honorary Names (was: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger) In Memorium, RAH NF-104 (was Re: kerosene/peroxide SSTO) Precursors to Fred (was Re: Sabatier Reactors.) Space Station Media Handbook - 18/18 The day before Challenger exploded. Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Using off-the-shelf-components Zero funding for SSF 1994 Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1993 01:57:43 GMT From: gawne@stsci.edu Subject: Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle Newsgroups: sci.materials,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle In article , jgrape@coos.dartmouth.edu (Johan A. Grape) asks in sci.materials: > I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what material > the infamous ceramic tiles on the space shuttle are made of? > > Anyone know who manufactures them too? Since I've seen this discussed at length in the space newsgroups recently I've included them in the followup. They're some pretty interesting composites. -Bill Gawne, Space Telescope Science Institute ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 17:13:29 PST From: Brian Stuart Thorn Subject: Clinton's Promises (space) in Charlotte Observer Newsgroups: sci.space >: > >You don't understand. NASA doesn't *want* Space Station Freedom >: > >completed. Funny thing is, this complaint is not raised about Mir. Launched in 1986, and there are two more major modules scheduled for launch in '94, I think. If NASA plans this way, its "welfare for the military industrial complex" or some such nonsense. If Russia does this, its "a sensible, stable approach to orbital space stations." Phooey. -Brian ------------------------------ Date: 6 Feb 93 00:58:57 GMT From: nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu Subject: Clinton Email Address Newsgroups: sci.space Clinton email address is as follows.. Clinton's email address web@tsavo.hks.com (Peter Webb), Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorenson,Inc. Date: 1 Feb 93 06:40:46 -0800 [ fwd's removed ] Communications Daily, January 19, 1993 CLINTON WHITE HOUSE TO MAKE DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY BODY: Carrying through successful campaign operation, Clinton Administration this week will become first White House to set up office dedicated to making official Presidential documents available electronically for widespread distribution. There has been limited distribution of White House press information in past through now-defunct Dialcom, but nothing on scale that Clinton staff is contemplating. Clinton transition effort has named Jonathan Gill as director of Electronic Publishing and Public Access E-Mail. Gill, software developer from Medford, Mass., signed onto Clinton campaign as electronic mail coordinator. He originally worked from home, later moved to Little Rock as demands on system became more intense. At one point, Clinton E-mail operation was answering 5,000 queries daily, most sent out automatically. Gill will work in White House Office of Communications with Jeff Eller, who was named deputy asst. to President and dir.-Media Affairs. Eller is credited with moving electronic computer communications for first time into mainstream of political campaigns. Clinton's address is: 75300.3115@compuserve.com Ramona Curry -- Peter Webb webb@hks.com Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc. Voice: 401-727-4200 1080 Main St, Pawtucket RI 02860 FAX: 401-727-4208 If you don't get thru the first time, it could be due to email backlog.. Alot of people have sent email to it.. == Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 1993 20:18:36 -0500 From: Matthew DeLuca Subject: Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Feb5.235635.19490@kpc.com> jbulf@balsa.Berkeley.EDU (Jeff Bulf) writes: >As I understand it, isn't the Sun a considerably larger-than-average star? >Recent articles in Astronomy have gone into this some. Apparently average >is around red-dwarf size. Well, it depends on what you consider to be 'average'. There are more red dwarfs than anything else, so if you add up all the sizes of all the stars and divide by the number of stars, you'er going to get an average mass pretty close to that of a red dwarf. However, if you consider stars as placed on the Hertzprung-Russell diagram, you'll find that the Sun is about halfway along the chart, and hence is pretty 'average'. Basically, there's lots of stars larger than the Sun, and lots that are smaller. -- Matthew DeLuca Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew Internet: matthew@phantom.gatech.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 17:12:57 PST From: Brian Stuart Thorn Subject: Honorary Names (was: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger) Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle >Continuing the divergance from this somber thread, Sunnyvale Air Force >Station, the "Houston Control" for the military space program, was renamed >"Onizuka Air Force Station" after the Challenger. I'm sure there must be >some schools named after McCallife (sp?) too. Have the other Challeger crew >members been honored by significant namings? > >- Jack In the Cape Canaveral area, there is now a Challenger Seven elementary and a Ronald McNair Middle School. There was an Astronaut High and a Freedom 7 Elementary prior to Challenger. -Brian ------------------------------ Date: 6 Feb 1993 01:05:19 GMT From: "David M. Palmer" Subject: In Memorium, RAH Newsgroups: sci.space Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: "Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.' written on a tag from an air tank, pinned to the ground with a knife, on an Earthlit mare. If we can't do that for him, all he gave us was dreams. -- David M. Palmer palmer@alumni.caltech.edu palmer@tgrs.gsfc.nasa.gov ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1993 02:56:20 GMT From: gawne@stsci.edu Subject: NF-104 (was Re: kerosene/peroxide SSTO) Newsgroups: sci.space In article , henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: > Also of note were the peroxide monopropellant rocket engines used in the > NF-104 rocket-boosted aircraft flown by NASA and the USAF, which worked > quite well and were serviced and fuelled by ordinary USAF technicians. Isn't that the one Chuck Yeager almost killed himself in? Seems I recall somebody saying its flight envelope had more holes in it than a Tiajuana .... [nevermind]. I guess what I'm asking is did the engines work well, or the plane as a whole, or both, or neither? Maybe Mary can provide some light on this if nobody else can. -Bill Gawne, Space Telescope Science Institute ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 17:12:24 PST From: Brian Stuart Thorn Subject: Precursors to Fred (was Re: Sabatier Reactors.) Newsgroups: sci.space >As far as building in orbit..... The first element launch (FEL)...... > >(*********1995!!!! This has held firm......SINCE 1988!!********) First element launch is now planned for March, 1996. Don't hold your breath. -Brian ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian S. Thorn "If ignorance is bliss, BrianT@cup.portal.com this must be heaven." -Diane Chambers, "Cheers" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1993 01:52:48 GMT From: Bruce Dunn Subject: Space Station Media Handbook - 18/18 Newsgroups: sci.space From NASA SPACELINK: "6_10_2_9.TXT" (20735 bytes) was created on 10-06-92 Space Station Freedom Payloads This appendix summarizes the payloads which are under consideration for launch on Space Station Freedom by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA), Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) and Office of Commercial Programs (OCP). OSSA Payloads The Office of Space Science and Applications is responsible for planning, directing, executing and evaluating scientific studies of the universe and studies of physical problems on Earth. OSSA also provides a scientific research foundation for expanding human presence beyond Earth into the solar system. In its role as a sponsor of space station users, OSSA has identified several payloads and payload concepts as candidates for flight on Space Station Freedom. They are being considered by OSSA's Life Sciences Division and Microgravity Science and Applications Division. OSSA Payloads: Life Sciences Division (LSD). The OSSA LSD's focus is to conduct a comprehensive program in operational medicine, biomedical monitoring and countermeasures, space biology, exobiology, and Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) development. Currently, the LSD is studying five space station facility concepts to support life sciences research. The five facilities are: Centrifuge Facility, Gravitational Biology Facility, Biomedical Monitoring and Countermeasures Facility, CELSS Test Facility and Gas-Grain Simulation Facility. Each facility is modular in construction to support a large number of different scientific investigations. The modularity also enables the facility to be easily upgraded when new equipment and techniques become available and to accommodate new directions in research that will occur in the future. Centrifuge Facility. The Centrifuge Facility is expected to be the single most important research tool for space life sciences. The Centrifuge Facility is scheduled to be placed in a node and launched on the first Shuttle flight after PMC. The Centrifuge Facility will be utilized to conduct basic research to determine the influence of gravity and radiation on biological systems, and to develop countermeasures to enable long-duration human activity in space. The facility will accommodate the diverse requirements of a wide variety of biological investigations using animals, plants, cells and tissue cultures. The effects of the space environment, including gravity and radiation, on reproduction, development and maturation of living systems will be of particular interest. By studying these effects down to the cellular level, scientists will learn how long-duration spaceflight affects living systems over single and multiple generations. The facility will also be used to examine the need for artificial gravity in long-duration manned flight. In order to investigate the effects of microgravity in space, the Centrifuge Facility provides animal and plant vivaria at the ambient microgravity level (Modular Habitats in Holding Systems) and housing at controlled gravity levels (Modular Habitats in the Centrifuge). The Centrifuge Facility is composed of two major systems: a 2.5 m. Centrifuge Rotor and the Habitat Holding Systems with Modular Habitats. The Modular Habitats are specimen chambers for housing small animals (mice, rats and monkeys) and plants, along with the structure and engineering subsystems required to supply consumables, maintain the appropriate environment, control experiment sensors and collect data. The habitats are modular and have standardized interfaces allowing them to be changed-out and used in the Centrifuge Rotor, Habitat Holding Systems and Life Sciences Glovebox. The Centrifuge Rotor is able to generate fractional gravity levels between zero-gravity (impossible to do on Earth) and two-g, allowing investigators to examine the effects of variable gravity. The Rotor provides accommodations for a mixed group of Modular Habitats, thus supporting concurrent research on multiple species. Gravitational Biology Facility.JThe Gravitational Biology Facility will be a two-rack facility that is launched in several complements. The facility will include equipment to support experiments that utilize the Centrifuge Facility and includes the Life Sciences Experiment Control Computer System. The Gravitational Biology Facility will also include additional multipurpose life sciences equipment utilized by both human and non-human life sciences experiments. Typical examples of hardware which may be included in the Gravitational Biology Facility are: Animal Biotelemetry System - a set of sensors and transducers to monitor various physiological parameters of animal specimens through telemetered data to the Experiment Control Computer System; Mass Spectrometer - an instrument used to determine components of a solution or gas by analyzing the molecular fragments according to their atomic mass; Perfusion and Fixation Unit - a set of chemicals and ancillary hardware required to treat and preserve tissue samples for later examination and study; Plant HPLC Ion Chromatograph - an instrument to separate and identify components of a solution by the differences in type and magnitude of ionic charge, specifically designed for monitoring plant specimens; Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter - a microdosimeter designed to determine radiation dosimetry at the organ/cellular level and to assess radiation damage to tissue; and, Experiment Control Computer System - a life sciences computer system to provide buffer memory and mass storage capability for experiments, and an interface between experiment hardware and the SSF data management system. Biomedical Monitoring and Countermeasures (BMAC) Facility. The BMAC Facility is designed to provide an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the physiological changes induced by spaceflight; develop and validate countermeasures to prevent or reverse undesirable effects of prolonged exposure to weightlessness; ensure human performance and well-being in space and enable successful readaptation to Earth's gravity. The BMAC Facility will contain hardware that will evaluate physiological control mechanisms and behavioral processes of man in the space environment. Systems to be studied include cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal adaptation, neurovestibular function, behavior, radiation exposure, blood cell dysfunctions and alterations in physiological regulation mechanisms. Typical examples of hardware which may be included in the BMAC Facility are: Blood Flow and Plethysmography System - a system for measuring and recording the changes in volume of an organ, part or limb, and the amount of blood present or passing through it; Electrocardiograph (ECG) System - a system that measures, records and displays the electrical activity of the heart; Fundus Camera - a handheld instrument used in examining the fundus region of the retina of the eye; Image Digitizing System - a system that converts images from any source into digital form; performs limited pattern recognition and transfers digital data from Space Station Freedom to the ground; Motion Analysis System - a video system used to monitor, record and analyze the motion of crew members during weightlessness; and, Pulmonary Analysis System - a system that measures respiratory system functions by determining expired and inspired air amounts and total lung volume. CELSS Test Facility. The purpose of the CELSS Test Facility (CTF) on Space Station Freedom is to provide NASA with a test bed to develop advanced life-support systems based on biological systems. The long on-orbit time gives scientists the capability to study plant populations throughout complete life cycles and over many generations in a controlled microgravity environment. The monitoring and environmental control of the experiment will be fully automated, including a robotic arm for specimen handling. CTF results will be used to identify candidate crops for future CELSS, to determine how well the experiment's subsystems work and to pinpoint plant growth techniques that yield the highest quality and quantity of crops. The CTF's experiments will determine the best combinations of environmental factors such as lighting, humidity, temperature and plant growth area. The amount of plant growth area needed is particularly important given the limited quarters on the Station. Gas-Grain Simulation Facility. The Gas-Grain Simulation Facility will be used to simulate and study fundamental chemical and physical processes, such as the formation, growth and interaction of clouds, dust grains and other small particles in microgravity. These studies will help scientists address questions related to phenomena such as solar system formation and the origin of life. Studies performed in this facility will also address scientific issues relevant to the disciplines of exobiology, planetary science, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biology, physics and chemistry. In the study of small particle process, the demands on experiment design are severe. Two common requirements are low relative velocities between particles and long time periods during which the particles must be suspended. Sufficiently long duration suspension times to do this fundamental research cannot be attained on Earth, but can be investigated with this general-purpose particle research facility in Earth orbit. OSSA Payloads: Microgravity Science and Applications Division. Currently, the MSAD is studying six Space Station Facility concepts to support microgravity research. The six facilities are: Advanced Protein Crystal Growth Facility, Biotechnology Facility, Fluid Physics Dynamics Facility, Modular Combustion Facility, Modular Containerless Processing Facility, and the Space Station Furnace Facility. Each facility is modular in construction to provide the flexibility needed to support a large number of different scientific investigations. The modularity also enables the facility to be easily upgraded as new equipment and techniques become available and to accommodate new directions in research that will occur in the future. Advanced Protein Crystal Growth Facility (APCGF). The Advanced Protein Crystal Growth Facility will support biotechnology research by growing macromolecular protein crystals. Preliminary research indicates that some types of protein crystals grow with a higher degree of internal order in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit. Highly ordered crystals may be used to improve our understanding of the three dimensional structure of proteins. The APCGF will house long-duration protein crystallization experiments designed to understand the growth process of protein crystals and to grow crystals of better quality than those grown in the Space Shuttle Middeck and on Earth. This knowledge will be used to aid protein crystallization efforts on Earth. Biotechnology Facility (BTF). The BTF will provide the capability to culture both mammalian cells. These cells or their constituent molecules may be used to culture tissues in an environment more conducive to tissue development and differentiation. This will allow biological processes to be studied and unique biologic materials to be produced. These products could include membranes, monoclonal antibodies or new tissues for transplantation research and treatment. The BTF will be a multi-user facility designed to house a wide variety of biotechnology experiments. Fluid Physics Dynamics Facility (FPDF). The FPDF will be used by the science and engineering community to perform experiments in a reduced gravity environment to further understand fundamental theories of fluid behavior, to provide improvements in thermophysical property measurement and to provide scientific and engineering data related to a wide variety of fluids-related applications and systems. The FPDF consist of a fluids experiment rack which will be supported by a control rack associated with the Modular Combustion Facility. Modular Combustion Facility (MCF). The MCF will be used by the science and engineering community to perform experiments in a reduced gravity environment to develop a further understanding of fundamental theories of combustion processes and phenomena and to provide scientific and engineering data for a wide variety of combustion related applications, such as spacecraft fire safety. The MCF will initially be housed in two space station racks. One of these will be the control rack, and the other, the experiment rack. The control rack, which contains the support systems, will provide common support for both the combustion and fluids experiment racks. Modular Containerless Processing Facility (MCPF). MCPF will accommodate a variety of experiments requiring the positioning and manipulation of materials without physical contact with other solids. This facility will allow researchers the opportunity to conduct studies minimizing contamination or other physical effects from container walls. The experiments being designed for the MCPF will test theories pertaining to phenomena that range from the behavior of liquid drops to the characterization of metal, glass and ceramic samples heated to temperatures up to and even over 2700C. The individual experiment modules will employ acoustic, electrostatic and magnetic forces to position the samples without using physical contact with solid materials. Heating will be provided by combinations of resistive furnaces, induction, microwave and light beams. Rapid cooling, needed by some experiments, will be provided. The facility itself will provide services and equipment common to many experiments such as advanced optical diagnosis, non-contact temperature measurement and data services not otherwise provided by Space Station Freedom. The configuration now being planned will include three kinds of test chambers for MSAD experiments. One test chamber will be used to conduct experiments at near ambient temperature. The second will be used to conduct experiments with ceramic, glass and metal samples at temperatures up to about 1700C in an inert atmosphere. The third experiment chamber will provide the capability to process metal samples at temperatures up to about 2700C in either a vacuum or an inert atmosphere. Space Station Furnace Facility (SSFF). The SSFF will accommodate solidification research in electro-optic materials, metals and alloys, composite materials, glasses and ceramics. Apparatus optimized to perform melt, vapor and solution crystal growth will be included, as well as instruments to perform thermophysical property measurement of materials and directional solidification of metals and alloys. The SSFF will allow two furnace modules to be operated simultaneously, allowing a high throughput of investigations when resources are available. Crew interaction will be used primarily for furnace reconfiguration, maintenance and repair. The crew will also install the samples to be processed and harvest them after an experiment. Some crew interactive research will be required for certain types of experiments. The SSFF will accommodate the use of telescience, so that ground investigators will be able to directly influence their experiments in near real-time when the crew is unavailable. OAST Payloads The Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) is responsible for the on-orbit evaluation of advanced space technologies utilizing Space Station Freedom. Advanced technology experiments are those which gather data relating to space environmental effects, communications, automation and robotics, information systems, advanced space structures and systems and human systems engineering. Some of the experiments which OAST is considering for flight on Space Station Freedom are as follows: In Situ Trace Contaminants Analysis. This is a real-time system consisting of a mass spectrometer and sampling apparatus which will identify and measure trace atmospheric contaminants within the Station. This experiment will provide data to validate current atmospheric trace contaminants models and will demonstrate the technology required to provide long-term real-time monitoring and analysis of spacecraft atmosphere. Spacecraft Strain and Acoustic Sensors. Advanced sensors will be integrated in the Station's structural components to measure strain. Both acoustic emission and fiber-optic sensors will be used. This information will be used to assess the level of wear, predict failures and develop improved materials and structural designs for future spacecraft. Advanced Sensor Development. The shirt-sleeve environment on Space Station Freedom will be used to develop advanced Earth/space viewing sensors. Using the optical window in the U.S. Laboratory Module, advanced sensors can be developed and tested in a short time frame for rapid technology transfer to civil applications. Transient Upset Phenomena in VLSIC Devices. Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSIC), which are especially fabricated to permit accurate detection of circuit failures (upsets), will be exposed to environmental radiation within the space station. This experiment will provide technologies to improve reliability and the ability to recover from upsets for future spacecraft and large scale Earth-based computer systems. OCP Payloads The Office of Commercial Programs (OCP) has identified several potential commercial payloads for flight on Space Station Freedom. Some of these payloads are: Bioregenerative Water System (BWS). The Bioregenerative Water System (BWS) will conduct experiments to quantify to what extent plant systems can be used to purify and recycle water in space and to validate the reliability and safety of such a system for closing the air and water loops of an environmental control system. During the man-tended phase of Space Station Freedom's operations, the BWS experiment will utilize a proprietary water condensing subsystem developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics to quantify the amount of water that can be obtained from a unit area of growing plants. The experiments will provide information on the extent that waste water can be used by the plant growing unit to provide purified potable water. The availability of a reliable and safe potable water supply system will significantly reduce the costs of maintaining any long-duration space mission, such as Space Station Freedom, a mission to Mars or a base on the moon. U.S. Commercial Electrophoresis (USCEPS). U.S. Commercial Electrophoresis (USCEPS) will develop better methods to separate biological materials into pure components for commercial biomedical purposes. Continuous flow electrophoresis conducted in space can often be used to separate closely related cell lines, or complex protein mixtures much better than the same process conducted on Earth. Microgravity eliminates dispersion effects caused by density differences in the fluid, sample and product streams which hamper the process on Earth. Biological materials separated in space via electrophoresis can yield larger quantities of purer products than can be produced on Earth using the same process. U.S. companies could use space-based electrophoresis to purify existing or new products such as growth hormone, beta cells and epidermal growth factors. Float Zone Crystal Growth (FZCG). The purpose of Float Zone Crystal Growth (FZCG) is to grow large, high-quality, single crystals of cadmium telluride and other electro-optical materials utilizing a furnace facility. The elimination of the harmful role of gravity convection and sedimentation, as well as the possibility of growing electronic crystals in space without contact with ampoule walls, allows an improvement of the structure and properties of semiconductor materials grown in space compared to their ground equivalents. Protein Crystal Growth (PCG). When crystals are grown on Earth, gravitational forces cause sedimentation and density-driven convection which results in poor quality crystals. Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) will utilize the microgravity environment of space to grow highly-ordered, high-quality, large protein crystals which will be analyzed via X-ray diffraction to reveal the proteins' three- dimensional structure. The end product of the space-borne protein crystal growth experiments is knowledge which has practical pharmaceutical applications in many health-related areas such as treatments for cancer and diabetes. The material above is one of many files from SPACELINK A Space-Related Informational Database Provided by the NASA Educational Affairs Division Operated by the Marshall Space Flight Center On a Data General ECLIPSE MV7800 Minicomputer SPACELINK may be contacted in three ways: 1) Using a modem, by phone at 205-895-0028 2) Using Telnet, at spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov 3) Using FTP capability. Username is anonymous and Password is guest. Address is 192.149.89.61. -- Bruce Dunn Vancouver, Canada Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: 6 Feb 93 01:13:15 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: The day before Challenger exploded. Newsgroups: sci.space In article <5FEB199317280830@judy.uh.edu> wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov writes: >The fact is that beyond the management failures and the one major design >flaw the system worked and is working well. As a professional engineer I find it hard to accept that anything which failed so utterly in all design criteria and costs so much more to operate can even be called working much less working well. >Calling the Shuttle a poor design is a personal opinion. It is not optimal, >how can anything designed by Cap Weinburger be perfect, but it is doing the >job, Allen not withstanding. On the contrary Dennis; I think Shuttle IS doing the job NASA intends it to do. It fufills the vital job of keeping billions flowing through NASA and keeping civil servents bush. As the Guild Navigator put it in the film 'Dune': "The pork must flow!". Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves | | aws@iti.org | nothing undone" | +----------------------130 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 14:50:48 GMT From: Peter Jarvis Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle Source-Info: Sender is really isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU In article <1993Jan29.134344.12798@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: >In article shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes: > >>...... They knew and accepted the risks. Their deaths >>were sad, of course, but it was not a great tragedy. PJ - Not a great tragedy? I would call losing 7 very valuable professionals PJ - in that manner a great tragedy. >........ It's too bad it happened but it >isn't a national tragedy. Some of our engineers had been working on >flight test for the F-111 radar where a few crews where killed. It's >part of the job. PJ - What has to happen for it to *be* a national tragedy? Being part of PJ - the job doesn't make it less tragic. What word would you use? >The one exception I would make would be the teacher. I think the others >where in the profession and had a realistic understanding of the risks >involved and could make intelligent decisions regarding it. I don't >think the teacher was. > Allen > PJ - The teacher (Christa M.) was made well aware of the risks of the PJ - ascent phase of the flight. I've talked to Niki Wenger, one of the PJ - 10 finalists who knew her. Peter Jarvis........pilot ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Feb 93 21:03:39 EST From: Jonathan Deitch Subject: Using off-the-shelf-components Newsgroups: sci.space >From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu >Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1993 22:05:00 GMT Organization: U of Toronto Zoology >Newsgroups: sci.space >It depends on who you ask. NASA is pretty fussy. Others aren't. >In practice, "space qualified" often means "it's been tried in space >and it works". The UoSAT people have been heard to complain that as >soon as they fly something once, the price zooms because the vendor >now thinks it's "space qualified" and therefore worth a lot more. Does this mean Apple can charge twice as much for a Mac Portable since they flew one on the Shuttle ? :-) How bout one of those GRiD laptops ? :-) :-) - Jonathan -- Internet: musjndx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu Fidonet: Jonathan Deitch@1:133/411.7 jdeitch@gisatl.fidonet.org Bellnet: 1 - (404) - 261 - 3665 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlanta 1996 !! | Play Pinball !! | Don't Panic ! | "I hate it when I can't --------------------------------------------------| trust my own technology!" "Thrills! Chills! Magic! Prizes!" -- Hurricane | -- Geordi LaForge Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, Jim Henson, Dr. Seuss, Mel Blanc ... Sigh ... ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 93 14:21:30 PDT From: morando@alad Subject: Zero funding for SSF 1994 Newsgroups: sci.space Here we go again... Latest word from Washington is that a bill will be introduced to reduce 1994 SSF funding to zero real soon now. Not a 50% funding cut, not a delay for another year or so, but rather put on mothballs with no futher spending after this year. This was substantiated by a program manager at a major SSF contractor. Whether you are for or against the Space Station, reading this post indicates interest in the space program. We should communicate our wishes and thoughts to our Representative and Senators and to our President. Disclaimer: I work for a space station contractor. Nuff said :-) ! Alex Morando ! morando@alad.gedlab.allied.com !------------------------------------------------------------------ ! For a technology to work, reality must take ! precedence over public relations, for Nature ! cannot be fooled. ! - Richard Feynman, Rogers Commission Report ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 147 ------------------------------