Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, DC              January 20, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1776)

Doug Ward
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/244-7926)

RELEASE:  95-6

NASA SIGNS LEASE/PURCHASE PACT FOR CLEAR LAKE DEVELOPMENT 
FACILITY

     NASA today signed a firm, fixed-price $34 million 
lease/purchase agreement with the McDonnell Douglas 
Corporation to acquire real estate and facilities at the 
Clear Lake Development Facility, near the Johnson Space 
Center (JSC), Houston, TX. 

     Under terms of the contract, McDonnell Douglas will 
turn over to NASA a group of three large, modern industrial 
buildings and surrounding property and will build the 
Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in one of the buildings.  
These facilities will be leased by NASA until authority to 
complete actual acquisition is secured from Congress.

     In addition to providing Shuttle operations training, 
NASA needs the NBL to train astronauts for Space Station 
assembly, which will involve the most extensive and complex 
EVAs ever attempted.  Since existing weightless environment 
training facilities are inadequate to meet future 
extravehicular activities (EVA) training requirements, NASA 
developed plans to build the NBL.

     The existing 101,000 square foot Assembly and Test 
Building will house a 101-foot wide by 202-foot long water 
tank, 40 feet deep, where astronauts will simulate 
spacewalks such as those required to service the Hubble 
Space Telescope or assemble the 831,000 pound Space 
Station.  Segments of the Space Station will be delivered 
to orbit beginning in November 1997 on U.S. Space Shuttles, 
Russian and European launch vehicles and assembled in space 
by astronauts.

     "This arrangement has numerous advantages," said 
Wilbur Trafton, Space Station Director.  "It increases our 
confidence of delivering the NBL on schedule and on cost 
and it will be available earlier so that important training 
can begin."  Trafton added that avionics facilities will be 
co-located with the NBL to increase program efficiency. 

                       -more-

                        -2-

    NASA had planned to build the NBL on site at JSC.  
Under this new agreement, McDonnell Douglas will construct 
the NBL off site in the 101,000 square foot Assembly and 
Test Building and will deliver the NBL at least six months 
earlier than previously planned, allowing training not 
otherwise possible for early Space Station flights.  
Construction of the new facility will eliminate expensive 
dual shift training operations at JSC and the Marshall 
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.  The agreement also 
will produce additional savings from the early shut down of 
JSC's existing underwater training facility.  The building 
that will house the NBL also is large enough to carry out 
more concurrent activities, increasing training efficiency.

     NASA will use the two other buildings - the 97,000 
square foot Light Manufacturing Facility (LMF) and the 
51,000 square foot Avionics Development Facility (ADF) -- 
for laboratory, technical support facilities and office 
space in excess of existing onsite and leased space.  NASA 
will build, modify and store training mockups in the LMF.  
The ADF will provide contiguous laboratory space for 
avionics equipment and associated software development, 
integration and test activities.

     Under the agreement, NASA also will acquire the 13-
acre property surrounding the Clear Lake Development 
Facility including a parking lot and private access to 
Ellington Field.

                      -end-

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