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ESA attempting to recover control of their heavy comsat Olympus after orbital and attitude control lost May 29. [The problem is tentatively ascribed to operator error, although Olympus is complicated and cranky at the best of times.]
Two attempts at a long-duration test firing of the Ariane 5 main engine abort due to sensor problems.
After spirited debate, threats of a White House veto, and testimony from representatives of both ESA and NASDA (the CSA was not there because Canadian government representatives are forbidden by law to testify before foreign legislatures), House floor vote halts the move to kill the space station. The price is freezing of most other NASA programs at current funding, which will damage some that were [perhaps over-optimistically] planning for large increases.
Synthesis Group higher-up Spence Armstrong describes the group's basic approach as "no cul-de-sacs", an attempt to avoid dead ends and devise a program that would provide significant accomplishments with reasonable frequency. His comment on approaches that organize everything into a buildup for (say) a manned Mars mission with no intermediate steps: "How are you going to get Congress to commit to a 30-year program?"
Magnavox shows Inmarsat satellite terminal small enough to fly as carry-on luggage, setting up in three minutes to provide voice, data, and fax via satellite.
Soviets validate a variant of their K-36 high-performance ejection seat for spaceplane use, by an unusual approach: prototype seats went up in the escape towers on Progress launches, and were fired after the towers separated from the launcher. (The escape tower is primarily meant to get a manned Soyuz out of trouble, but it is retained on the Progress unmanned cargo carrier because it also is used to jettison the payload fairing.) Some minor design changes were made as a result of the tests, which the Soviets say could not have been duplicated properly by simulation. Italy's Fiat Spazio, teamed with Zvezda [the Soviet manufacturer], is offering this seat for Hermes. [The competition is Aermacchi plus Martin-Baker, and politics may influence things because M-B is British and Britain has refused to participate in Hermes funding. The Soviets aren't Hermes participants either, but relations there are thawing while the ones with Britain are pretty frosty.]
Pictures of the Energia M mini-Energia launcher test article on the pad at Baikonur. Energia M uses a scaled-down core with only one main engine, plus only two strap-ons, giving payload to orbit of 40 tons against 100+ for Energia itself.
Pictures of the second Buran orbiter, now finished assembly at Baikonur. No launch date yet.
Columbia goes up with the Spacelab Life Sciences mission June 5. One concern appears, as some insulation has come loose in a position that could interfere with the closing of the payload-bay doors. An emergency EVA is possible if necessary. [Eventual assessment, proved correct on reentry, was "no problem".]
Two Soviet cosmonaut MDs saw the Columbia launch as part of medical cooperation on the flight. Dr. Valeri Polyakov [eight months aboard Mir] commented: "Having both animals and humans together for analysis on the same spacecraft is important to understanding overall zero-gee effects on physiology." In a related effort, several NASA scientists were at Star City recently to use US instrumentation to examine the latest Mir crew.
Columbia having gotten off successfully, after a four-day slip due to electronics problems and a short delay due to weather, Pad 39B will be out of service for some months for modifications and upgrades. Next use will be the first flight of Endeavour next May.
Arthritic bureaucracies don't tame new | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology frontiers. -Paul A. Gigot, WSJ, on NASA | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry