Word: nasa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
John Glenn's much-hyped return to space does not appear to be following the script. Just eight days before the launch, it has been revealed that the 77-year-old senator was dumped without announcement by NASA from an experiment that the agency rated as one of the top two priorities of his mission. As if that weren't enough, scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about launching the shuttle after a five-month gap between flights -- and the fact that the President has decided to show up on launch day isn't helping anyone's nerves...
...August that Glenn was told he wouldn't be taking part in a test of melatonin, the natural sleep hormone, because he "did not meet one of the medical criteria for participation," Dr. Charles Czeisler, the surgeon who disqualified Glenn, told the New York Times Wednesday. For two months, NASA endeavored to keep the news quiet -- ostensibly because it was a private medical matter. Evidently, it didn't fit the mold of a feisty American hero blasting back into orbit. Neither does the prospect of delaying the launch, with Clinton and hundreds of congressmen, celebrities and network anchormen waiting...
...most daring deep-space missions NASA has ever planned is turning out to be one of the least publicized. The target is a large asteroid named 1992KD, which orbits the sun millions of miles from Earth. But that destination is almost incidental to the performance of the spacecraft that will make the trip. Though it looks little different from countless other unmanned probes NASA has launched, the ship will be navigated by an electronic brain that has been likened to HAL, the independent-minded computer in the film 2001, and will move through space under power of a system that...
...later this month, will be the forerunner of a new generation of spacecraft. While flight planners hope the ship will make some interesting observations about the target asteroid, including its composition and the structure of its surface, DS1's prime assignment is to validate a host of new technologies NASA had always considered too risky to try on a high-profile mission. Says Marc Rayman of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, DS1's chief engineer: "We have an unproven propulsion system, powered by an unproven solar array, commanded by an unproven navigation system...
...Clinton administration, which sees the ISS as a billion-dollar boondoggle designed to keep Russian scientists in employment and out of other nations' nuclear weapons programs. Capitol Hill, however, is more skeptical. "It's smoke and mirrors," said Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) of the House Science Committee. "What NASA has done is to propose a leveraged buyout of the Russian Space Agency." Wednesday's Science Committee meeting on the subject is likely to be ugly; Goldin would do well to offer free gifts and a money-back guarantee...