Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Thursday, December 27, 1990	Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, December 27, 1990

This is a summary of some of the most important activities and 
developments which occurred in 1990.

The 1990 space flight year began in January with Columbia's 
flight to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility and ended 
with Columbia's flight in December to carry out a long-awaited 
astronomical observation mission with the first non-astronauts 
to fly since the ill-fated flight of Challenger nearly 60 months 
earlier.

National planning for the year began in February with Agency 
chief Adm. Richard Truly launching an effort to collect the best 
ideas on how to return to the Moon and go on to Mars.  Former 
astronaut office chief Gen. Tom Stafford was named by Truly to 
head the idea search.  Also in February, Truly formed a new 
agency office out of the Office of Exploration and Office of 
Aeronautics and Space Technology.  In July, Vice President Dan 
Quayle announced the formation of the Advisory Committee on 
the Future of the U.S. Space Program and named Martin 
Marietta chief executive officer Norman Augustine to head it.  In 
December that group reported its recommendations to Adm. 
Truly and the White House.

The 1990 science year began in February with the Voyager 1 
spacecraft taking a snapshot of nearly the entire family of 
planets in our solar system .  In February, Galileo flew by Venus 
in the first of three planetary gravitational assist maneuvers.  In 
April, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, only to have 
discovered weeks later that its mirror system was ground to the 
wrong formula.  Nevertheless, the Hubble telescope is fulfilling 
its goal of providing unprecedented astronomical views.  NASA 
announced a repair mission which would fly in 1993 and replace 
the imaging instruments with optically modified new versions.  
In June, the Roentgen Satellite was launched aboard a Delta to 
begin its X-ray astronomy observations.  In July, the Combined 
Release/Radiation Effects Satellite was launched aboard an 
Atlas and began its investigations into the Earth's trapped 
radiation belts.

By mid-summer, the Cosmic Background Explorer had 
completed its initial all-sky survey of the background microwave 
radiation left over from the Big Bang - providing confirmation of 
the Big Bang theory but leaving cosmologists still pondering the 
current complexity of the universe and how it became so.  In 
August, Magellan went into Venus orbit and began its planet-
wide high resolution mapping mission.  In October, Ulysses was 
launched on the first leg of its eventual solar polar orbit by 
Atlantis.  In December, the Astro-1 shuttle Spacelab mission 
flew for a 9-day astronomy observation mission with two non-
astronaut payload specialists aboard to help operate the science 
instruments.  Also in December, Galileo flew by the Earth on the 
second of its three-part planetary assist maneuvers.

The aeronautics year included celebration of the 75th 
anniversary of the formation of the National Advisory 
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).  Experimental aircraft 
flights this year included flight-testing of the swept-forward 
wing X-29, which met with rave reviews from the test pilots, a 
computer-assisted landing system which was flown on an 
experimental Boeing 737 and laminar flow air control surfaces 
which were tested on an experimental Boeing 757.  The National 
Aerospace Plane program progressed through the year, first 
with the merger of the five contractor teams into one national 
contractor consortium in May and later with in the Fall with the 
selection of a final configuration for the design -- a twin-tail 
lifting body shape.

The following dates represent only a few of the Agency's 
milestones for 1990:
1/9/90	 Shuttle Columbia is launched to retrieve Long 
	 Duration Exposure Facility;
2/9/90	 Galileo spacecraft flies by Venus at 9,300 miles 
	 altitude;
2/14//90 Voyager 1 takes portrait of Solar System;
2/28/90	 Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a Dept. of Defense 
	 mission;
4/24/90	 Shuttle Discovery is launched to deploy Hubble Space 
	 Telescope;
6/1/90	 Delta 195 launches the Roentgen Satellite;
7/25/90	 Atlas-Centaur-69 launches the Combined 
	 Release/Radiation Effects Satellite;
8/10/90	 Magellan goes into Venus orbit;
8/28/90	 Magellan begins high resolution mapping of Venus;
10/6/90	 Shuttle Discovery is launched to deploy Ulysses 
	 spacecraft;
11/15/90 Shuttle Atlantis is launched on final secret Dept. of 
	 Defense mission;
12/2/90	 Shuttle Columbia is launched for Spacelab Astro-1 
	 astronomy mission;
12/8/90	 Galileo spacecraft flies by Earth at 620 miles altitude.
	
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA 
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Thursday, 12/27/90

	11:30 am	NASA Update is transmitted;

	12:00 pm	Adm. Truly Holiday Message to NASA staff;

	12:30 pm	1990 Year in Review program;

	1:00 pm	Back Space series, "SkyLab";

	1:30 pm	Life Sciences at Manned Spacecraft Center.

	

All events and times may change without notice.  This report is 
filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a 
service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA 
Headquarters.  Contact:  CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 
202/453-8425.
	

NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 
degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.