Astronautics and aeronautics, 1986-1990 : a chronology

377 Pages·2007·5.7 MB·English

SP-4027
ASTRONAUTICS AND
AERONAUTICS, 1986-1990
A Chronology
by Ihor Y. Gawdiak, Ram6n J. Mir6, and Sam Stueland
THE NASA HISTORY SERIES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA History Office
Office of Policy and Plans
Washington, DC 1997
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gawdiak, Ihor, 1935-
Astronautics and aeronautics, 1986-1990 : a chronology I by Ihor Y.
Gawdiak, Ramon J. Mir6, and Sam Strueland.
p. cm. - (NASA history series)
Includes index.
1. Astronautics-Chronology. 2. Aeronautics-Chronology.
I. Mir6, Ram6n, 1968- . 11. Strueland, Sam, 1955- . 111. Title.
IV. Series.
TL788.5.G38 1997 97-202 15
629.1 ' 0 9 4 ~ 2 1 CIP
For sale by the US. Government printing office
Superintendento f Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328
ISBN 0-16-049134-7
Preface
This chronology of events in aeronautics, aviation, space science, and space
exploration was prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of
Congress for the History Division of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). It covers the years 1986-1990 and continues the
series of annual chronologies published by NASA.
The present volume returns to the format used in the Astronautics and
Aeronautics, 1979-1984: A Chronology volume. It also integrates in a single
table the information presented in two or three previous publications.
Ihor Y. Gawdiak
Ram6n J. Mir6
Sam Stueland
May 1997
...
111

Contents
...
Preface .................................................. III
Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1986 .............................. 3
Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1987 ............................. 93
Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1988 ............................ 147
Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1989 ............................ 203
Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1990 ............................ 243
Appendix A
Satellites. Space Probes. and Human Space Flights ............2 93
Appendix B
Abbreviations of References .............................. 333
Index ................................................... 337
The NASA History Series ................................... 363
About the Compilers ....................................... ???
V
1986
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS,

January
January 2: A Reuters report said that Arabsat-1, the Arab world’s fist com-
munication satellite, built for the Arab League by a French-led consortium
and launched in February 1985 by a European Aryan rocket, failed to operate
in orbit because of technical errors. The report also noted that Iraqi Director
General Ali Mashat, the man in charge of the project, was fired last month by
a committee of six Arab League communications ministers. (C Trib, Jan 2/86)
Having examined NASA’s 1986 schedule of launches, missions into space,
and other space science events, U.S. media predicted that 1986 would “open
an extensive new chapter in space exploration,” and would rival the era of
space exploration “that began with Galileo’s first peak through a telescope 400
years ago.” Predicting 1986 to be “a banner year,” the Christian Science
Monitor pictured an expanding role for the United States in space exploration
because the year promised to put NASA on the cutting edge. Although the Los
Angeles Times predicted “a year of spectaculars,’’i t warned that no new starts
for planetary missions beyond 1986 were on the horizon. The Times also noted
that the projected $8 billion orbiting Space Station would likely take a big bite
out of NASA funds and that increased military applications equated to less
sharing of knowledge with the public. (CSM, Jan 2/86; LA Times, Jan 218)
January 3: The steering problem that halted the Shuttle Columbia’s launch in
December of 1985 was traced to a tiny electrical component that led ground
computers astray. (W Times, Jan 3/86; NY Times, Jan 3/86)
The Federal Aviation Administration has become increasingly concerned
with the problem of inadequate airline maintenance. Because they maintain a
17-hour-per-day schedule and are involved in repeated takeoffs and landings,
commercial jetliners are prone to numerous mechanical breakdowns.
Although “modern jets are designed to fly despite even serious defects” and
although U.S. carriers employ an army of airline mechanics repairing planes
in between scheduled flights, several U.S. carriers were fined by the Federal
Aviation Administration last summer for a “series of maintenance-related
transgressions.” The National Transportation Safety Board was considering
whether a crash of a Midwest Express Airline jet in September 1985, in which
31 people were killed, was caused by poor maintenance. Some air-safety
experts expressed fear that airline companies had become too cost conscious
about safety; still, maintenance error ranked third behind pilot error and bad
weather as a cause of fatal airline crashes. (WSJ, Jan 3/86)
3
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS JANUARY 1986
January 6: NASA renamed two planetary missions scheduled for flight in
1988 and 1990. The mission to map the planet Venus, previously known as
Venus Radar Mapper and scheduled for launch from the Space Shuttle in April
1988 and arrival at Venus in July 1989, was renamed Magellan. The Magellan
spacecraft, attached to a Centaur-G upper stage, would map the entire surface
of the planet Venus for the first time, using a synthetic-aperture radar instru-
ment. The spacecraft would orbit the planet about once every three hours,
coming as close as 250 kilometers from the surface.
The mission to map the planet Mars, previously known as the Mars
Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter and scheduled for launch from the Space
Shuttle in August 1990 and arrival at Mars in August 1999, was renamed Mars
Observer. The Observer spacecraft, adapted from an existing production-line
type of Earth-orbital spacecraft to reduce costs, would map the planet Mars to
determine the global elemental and mineralogical character of its surface and
to investigate the Martian climate, both present and past. The Magellan and
Mars Observer projects were managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, for NASA‘s Office of Space Science and Applications.
(NASA Release 86-1)
NASA announced that the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and the
launch of the first Earth Observation Mission have been switched. Under the
new schedule, the Space Telescope would be launched on October 27, 1986,
and the Earth Observation Mission would lift off on August 18, 1986. The
change was made to provide additional time for delivery of the Space
Telescope from the West Coast to Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The Space
Telescope would be deployed into orbit from Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was
expected to see 7 times farther and 10 times more clearly than any telescope
on Earth. (NASA Release 86-2)
USA Today reported that 40-year-old Karen Kofoed, a reporter for the
Camden Courier-Post, was the first journalist to apply to be part of a crew
aboard a Space Shuttle into space. As of January 6, only 20 of the 4000
reporters who requested applications had submitted the completed forms,
which were due by January 15. The contest for the first journalist in space was
administered for NASA by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass
Communications at the University of South Carolina. (USA Today, Jan 6/86)
A number of American space scientists expressed disappointment because
no U.S. spacecraft would fly by Halley’s Comet as it swings by Earth for the
first time since 1910 and for the thirtieth time since 240 B.C. The scientists
ascribed U.S. failure to have a mission to the comet to a “combination of over
expectations, missed signals, poor planning, a streak of bad luck, and politics
and infighting in the science community.”
4