Mar 11 2003

From The Space Library

Jump to: navigation, search

NASA scientist Robert Michael Hornstein died of a brain tumor at the age of 57. Hornstein had worked for NASA since 1968, directing its worldwide network of antennas used for communicating with orbiting spacecraft. Hornstein, who had joined NASA during the Apollo program to design programs for ground tracking systems, was “recognized for helping save the Apollo 9 mission from being aborted shortly after launch when he modified tracking software to compensate for a computer malfunction in the launch vehicle.” As Ground Networks Director, Hornstein had helped administer network-tracking facilities during Space Shuttle orbits, the Voyager program, the Galileo recovery effort and mission to Jupiter, the Magellan program, and the international Halley's Comet tracking program. He had helped manage the upgrade of Deep Space Network facilities in Australia, California, and Spain and had acted as NASA's primary representative in arranging cooperative tracking efforts with other countries. NASA had awarded Hornstein its Outstanding Leadership Award and Exceptional Service Medal, and the Soviet Union had honored him with membership in its Federation of Cosmonautics. (Washington Post, “Robert Hornstein; NASA Scientist Ran Tracking System,” 28 March 2003.

NASA awarded Wyle Laboratories Inc. a five-year contract to perform a range of activities in the Office of Bioastronautics of the Space and Life Sciences organization at NASA's JSC. Previously, NASA had relied on multiple contracts to perform these tasks. The contract was a cost-plus-award-fee contract with indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery and level-of-effort work. Although the base period of the contract was five years, two options could extend it to 10 years, bringing the total value to US$968.9 million. (NASA, “Wyle Wins NASA Contract To Support Bioastronautics,” news release c03-f, 11 March 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_c03f.html (accessed 25 August 2008).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31