October 15, 1990

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HEADLINE NEWS

Rockwell/MBB X-31 Makes 38-Min. Flight To Start Flight Test Program

PALMDALE, CALIF. The X-31 made its first flight on Oct. 11, starting flight test of the enhanced fighter maneuverability aircraft. Rockwell pilot Ken Dyson took off from Air Force Plant 42 here, retracted the landing gear and returned for a landing 38 min. later.

HEADLINE NEWS

European Ulysses Fired to Jupiter, Sun As Discovery Returns Astronauts to Space

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER The space shuttle Discovery and its NASA astronaut crew have put the U. S. manned program back on track with a nearly flawless mission that sent the European Ulysses spacecraft toward Jupiter and the Sun, ending a five-month grounding of the orbiter fleet.

By CRAIG COVAULT

HEADLINE NEWS

Focus Turns to Processing Atlantis, Columbia After Successful Mission

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER NASA and its contractors last week began to focus on processing the troublesome Atlantis and Columbia orbiters for coming missions following the successful flight of Discovery to deploy the Ulysses solar probe.

By EDWARD H. KOLCUM

HEADLINE NEWS

Hubble Scientists Urge NASA to Consider Early Repair of ESA Faint Object Camera

BALTIMORE Some Hubble Space Telescope scientists are irked that NASA has first consid ered replacing a U. S. camera on the optically flawed observatory instead of fixing a European instrument that depends even more on its powers of resolution.

HEADLINE NEWS

Ulysses’ Success Being Tempered By Space Station Budget Realities

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Success of the U. S./European Ulysses launch is being tempered by continuing budget problems in the cooperative Freedom station program. Numerous European space managers told AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY here that if the station budget situation and any resulting design changes are not clarified soon, European willingness to perform major cooperative space missions with the U. S. in the future will be permanently affected.

HEADLINE NEWS

Soviet Spacecraft Radar Image Of Puget Sound Shows Sea Bottom

WASHINGTON This Soviet Cosmos 1,870/Almaz radar spacecraft image of Puget Sound, Wash., shows the sea bottom 570-875 ft. underwater. The image illustrates how the USSR could develop this radar technology to possibly detect U. S. submarines from space, a technology the U. S. also is pursuing.

HEADLINE NEWS

German Official Urges Realistic Costs, Schedules for Europe’s Space Programs

DRESDEN, GERMANY Germany has called for a stretchout of the European Columbus space station and Hermes manned spaceplane programs because it believes Europe will not be able to keep costs of its long-term space plan within the budgeted amount or meet its original scheduling.

By JEFFREY M. LENOROVIT

HEADLINE NEWS

Rockwell Tests Shuttle Engine Pump

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER A new design and lubricant for the space shuttle main engine high-pressure fuel turbopump will increase pump life to 10,000 sec. or 20 flights, according to Byron Wood, Rocketdyne vice president and shuttle engine program manager.

HEADLINE NEWS

New Crane-like Arm on Mir To Aid Solar Panel Relocation

DRESDEN A crane-type manipulator is to be installed on the Soviet Union’s Mir space station for use by cosmonauts in relocating a pair of large solar arrays from one of Mir’s building-block modules to another. A Progress unmanned cargo spacecraft will deliver the crane— a deployable telescopic boom that can rotate—to Mir.

HEADLINE NEWS

Japanese Consider Further Changes In H-2 Booster’s Rocket Engine

DRESDEN, GERMANY The latest test failure of Japan’s LE-7 engine may force a further redesign of the liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propulsion system that is under development for the country’s new H-2 heavy-lift launch vehicle. Initial analyses of the Sept. 26 failure found that the LE-7’s high-pressure oxygen pump exploded approximately 16 sec. after startup, according to program officials.

October 81990

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October 15, 1990

October 15, 1990

Rockwell/MBB X-31 Makes 38-Min. Flight To Start Flight Test Program