December 7, 1987

December 7, 1987

View Full Issue Table of Contents
Editorial

The Space Station Dilemma

By DONALD E. FINK/Washington

Who's Where

Washington _Roundup

Washington _Roundup

View Full Issue
More Features
1011
Editorial

The Space Station Dilemma

The award by NASA of $5 billion in space station development contracts has given four U. S. aerospace industry teams something to celebrate in the closing days of 1987, a year that in most other respects will pass into history as a time of continued erosion in the U. S.’s position as a world space power.

By DONALD E. FINK/Washington

1213

Who's Where

Gen. Paul X. Kelley (USMC-Ret.), former Marine Corps commandant, named senior vice president and director of corporate development, Star Mountain, Inc., Alexandria, Va. Malcolm S. (Mack) Graham, appointed president, Atlantic Aviation Corp., effective Jan. 1, 1988, from executive vice president.
1617
Washington _Roundup

Washington _Roundup

WASHINGTON STAFF Perestroika? President Ronald Reagan, on the eve of the U. S./Soviet summit, charged that the Soviets’ $200-billion Red Shield antimissile program threatens a “breakout” from the Antiballistic Missile (ABM) treaty.
1819
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

NASA Selects Station Contractors Despite Funding Uncertainties

NASA has taken a key step toward achieving U. S. manned permanent presence in space in the 1990s by awarding more than $5 billion in contracts to four industry teams to design and construct space station hardware over the next 10 years. AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY coverage of this milestone event was provided by a team including Craig Covault, senior space technology editor; Theresa M. Foley, space technology editor; Edward H. Kolcum, Southeast bureau chief; Michael A. Dornheim, engineering editor, and Michael Mecham, congressional editor.
2021
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

Boeing to Build Space Station Modules Under $750-Million Award

Washington—NASA has selected a Boeing Aerospace Co. team for a $750-million contract to build the manned modules that will form the heart of the U. S./international space station over a competing Martin Marietta proposal because of “superior mission” concepts proposed by Boeing.
2021
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

Mir Crew to Return To Earth Dec. 31_

Washington—The Soviet Union will return its record-breaking Mir space station crew to Earth Dec. 31 and is preparing to launch another crew that would remain on board the station for a full year. The U. S. space station program that began formal development last week with major contract awards will not have a similar capability for nearly 10 years.
2223
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

McDonnell Douglas Team Will Plan Assembly of Key Elements in Space

Huntington Beach, Calif.—A team led by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. was selected last week by NASA to plan what the space agency says is the most technically challenging part of the space station, the in-orbit assembly. The McDonnell Douglas team was selected for the primary space station work managed by the Johnson Space Center, which includes the external truss structure and carries the highest estimated cost of the four major contract awards.
2223
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

NASA, Contractor Officials Fault Station Design Process

Los Angeles—The current space station design lacks flexibility and may have difficulty handling modifications that inevitably arise from in-orbit experience, according to some contractor and NASA personnel involved with the space station.
2223
SPACE STATION CONTRACTS

Awards Allow Kennedy to Start Station Work

Kennedy Space Center—Space station work package contract awards will enable planners here to begin design work on a new processing facility, to award initial contracts for an advanced ground data management system, and to begin coordinating the total ground support equipment effort for the program, according to James W. Johnson, deputy manager of the Space Station Program Office here.
2425
SHRINKING DEFENSE BUDGET

Taft Memos Order Budget Emphasize Weapons Terminations

Washington—The U. S. Defense Dept.’s leadership, faced with shrinking funds for the next five years, has ordered the military services to identify by Dec. 7 more than $30 billion in spending reductions, including weapons cancellations and the contraction of U. S. forces in Fiscal 1989.

By Paul Mann

November 301987 December 141987