Orion Atlantic comsat launch aborted seconds before liftoff at the Cape 22 Nov. An umbilical failed to disconnect from the Centaur upper stage.
US and Ukraine sign civil-space cooperation agreement (among others). Plans are afoot to fly a Ukrainian cosmonaut on the shuttle. Unfortunately, the Ukraine did not get the agreement it most wanted, permitting its entry into the international launch market, due to ongoing squabbles within the US government over policy details.
NASA says there is general consensus that the X-33 will use existing engines, and its hoped-for operational successor will not use all-new engines. "We have adequate performance... we ought to be taking items that are reasonably well known and trying to extend those to give us... the increased reliability and increased operatibility... We haven't seen anything that would require us to go to a new propulsion system". SSME- like performance is adequate, and "there are plenty of engines in the world able to provide it". High priorities for engine work are better understanding of the operating environment and how components respond to it, and a concerted effort to lower turbine temperatures (perhaps by using oxidizer-rich turbine flows, which would also make temperatures less sensitive to small variations in mixture ratio). The picture is complicated by differing requirements of different SSTO designs, e.g. the linear aerospike for efficient integration into Lockheed's lifting- body concept and the in-flight restart for VTVL designs. Tripropellant concepts are not dead yet, either.
NASA picks Orbital Sciences for its Ultralight launch-services contract.
NASA Ames Mars work focussing on improved Mars-surface capabilities, with longer stay times and the possibility of "abort to Mars" emergency procedures superseding some "abort to Earth" approaches. [I think this is their adaptation of Mars Direct, although the news item is brief and does not make it clear.]
First firing of the Ariane 5 main engine using the "battleship" first-stage test article at Kourou. The test went fine, although it is several months behind schedule and brisk progress will be needed to meet the goal of first launch late in 1995.
Final Ariane-5 payload-fairing separation test successful.
Specification documents for the 747: 1 | Henry Spencer Ditto for Air Force One (a 747): 14000 | henry@zoo.toronto.edu