May 8 1992
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
NASA delivered a report to the U.S. Senate outlining a shift in emphasis towards smaller, lower cost and more frequent planetary missions. The Small Planetary Mission Plan, which was requested by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies chaired by Senator Barbara Mikulski, described two proposed missions that NASA had selected for preliminary studies leading to launches in 1996 and 1998. The two missions were the Mars Environmental Survey Pathfinder and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. (NASA Release 92-63)
Lending their expertise with long-duration exposure to microgravity, the Skylab IV astronaut crew was scheduled to participate in a series of underwater tests that would help in the development of Space Station Freedom. The tests will be monitored by engineers represented by NASA, the Boeing Defense and Space Group, and international partners from the European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency. (NASA Note N92-42)
It was reported that Martin Marietta Corporation had abandoned the six-year venture into the commercial satellite launching business that it started in the summer of 1986, seven months after the explosion of the Shuttle Challenger. The original plan was to build 20 Titan rockets for commercial launches. That number was reduced to 12, and the company charged $90 million to fourth-quarter earnings in 1988 for a reserve to help finance the launch venture. Martin eventually built only four commercial Titans, the last of which was scheduled for launch in September 1992, carrying a payload to map the surface of Mars and look for possible landing sites on that planet. (B Sun, May 8/92)
Thomas O. Paine, 70, who was Deputy Administrator and Administrator of NASA from 1968 to 1970, died of cancer May 4 at his home in Los Angeles. In 1985, President Reagan named him chairman of the National Commission on Space to set goals for future space exploration. He also was a member of Vice President Quayle's Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program. After leaving NASA, he returned to GE where he became a vice president and power generation group manager. In 1982, he retired from the Northrop Corporation as its president. (W Post, May 8/92; NY Times, May 7/92)
Albert Parry, 92, a professor emeritus of Russian civilization and language and founder and former chairman of the department of Russian studies at Colgate University, died in Los Angeles. In 1954, Dr. Parry warned in an article that the Soviets would soon be able to launch a space satellite, and in another article published in July 1957, he predicted the launching would occur on September 17. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I on October 4. (NY Times, May 8/92)
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