Jan 15 1985
From The Space Library
Naval Observatory astronomer Richard Walker proposed a simple explanation for the inclination of a descending passageway in the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, the Washington Post reported. Walker had first examined the suggestion of John Herschel, an early 19th-century astronomer, that the 337-foot passageway was at an angle of 26.5230° to point at the North Star, allowing the pyramid to serve an as astronomical observatory as well as tomb for the pharaoh. Walker noted, however, that due to the wobble of earth's axis in its orbit around the sun, no prominent star could have been seen from the base of the passageway in 2800 B.C.
Walker suggested the angle resulted from the construction technique. By placing three stones of equal length horizontally and another of equal size on top of the 3rd horizontal stone, the angle from the top stone to bottom stone at the other end was 26.5°. (W Post, Jan 15/85, A10)
During NASA's general management status review, the office of space flight reported on the agency objective to undertake a pricing and marketing strategy that would capture for the STS a dominant percentage of the planned free-world, commercially launched payloads, as measured yearly by payments for launch reservations, through the end of CY 88.
R. Wisniewski, assistant associate administrator, noted that a NASA recommendation for full-cost recovery sent to the White House would likely undergo close scrutiny. He anticipated strong competition as NASA marketed the Space Shuttle capability, with 28 to 36 STS launches of the approximately 58 planned payloads through 1988; Ariane would capture a sizeable portion of the remaining launches. Wisniewski reported $140 million in Space Shuttle receipts in FY 84 and predicted $188 million in Space Shuttle revenue in FY 85. (GMSR Report, Jan 15/85, 35)
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