David W. Garrett
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
December 22, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1600)
RELEASE 93-226
HST SERVICING MISSION HIGHLIGHTS 1993 NASA ACCOMPLISHMENTS
   On five consecutive nights in December, astronauts aboard the
Space Shuttle Endeavour thrilled the world with spacewalks to
replace faulty components of the Hubble Space Telescope.  The
telescope was placed back into space on Dec. 10 and orbital
verification of the first servicing mission is expected to be
completed in early March 1994.
   NASA's space science programs in 1993 delivered an enormous
volume of data and discoveries about the planets, stars and
cosmos.  Unfortunately, a major disappointment occurred when the
Mars Observer spacecraft, the first U.S. mission to Mars in 17
years, fell silent only days prior to entering orbit around the
planet.
   In March, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, on orders from
the President, directed the agency to redesign the space station
in order to make it more efficient, effective and capable of
producing greater returns on investment.  In early December, the
participating nations in the Space Station Program agreed to
invite Russia to join in the program and on Dec. 16, Vice
President Gore and Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin confirmed
the historic joining of the U.S. and Russian human space programs.
   During 1993, NASA began to reinvigorate American investment in
aeronautical research.  The agency made progress in laying the
foundation for a future supersonic airliner; continued to work to
make tomorrow's aircraft and the nation's air traffic control
system safer, more efficient and more economical; and started
efforts to foster educational programs that will help create a
cadre of young, highly skilled aeronautical engineers for the next
century.
                              -end-
EDITORS NOTE:  These subjects and other 1993 NASA activities are
covered in the following background release.  The entire 1993
document may be obtained by contacting the NASA Headquarters or
NASA centers newsrooms.
                            SPACE SCIENCE
     NASA's space science programs in 1993 kept up a vigorous pace in
delivering a huge volume of data, remarkable images and often
surprising discoveries about the planets, stars and cosmos.  The year
also was marked by a major disappointment when the Mars Observer
spacecraft, the first U.S. mission to Mars in 17 years, fell silent
only days prior to entering orbit around the Red Planet.  The mission
had hoped to provide a global map of Mars and voluminous surface and
weather data over a full martian year.
     Listed below are highlights of the year's events and discoveries
by NASA's earth orbiting observatories and research spacecraft,
planetary exploration spacecraft and other scientific activities,
categorized by their field of research.
ASTROPHYSICS: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
     After a one-day weather postponement, the STS-61 Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) First Servicing Mission lifted off Pad 39B in a
spectacular nighttime launch at 4:27 AM EST on December 2, 1993.  The
Shuttle Endeavour pursued the observatory for several orbits,
culminating in a precise and flawless rendezvous, grapple and berthing
of the telescope in the cargo bay.  The Endeavour flight crew, in
concert with controllers at JSC and GSFC, completed all eleven
servicing tasks during five EVAs, for full accomplishment of all
STS-61 servicing  objectives.  This included installation of a new
Wide Field & Planetary Camera and sets of corrective optics for all
the other instruments, as well as replacement of faulty solar arrays,
gyroscopes, magnetometers and electrical components to restore the
reliability of the observatory subsystem.  The Endeavour also provided
HST with a reboost into a 321 nautical mile nearly circular orbit.
Re-deployment of a healthy HST back into orbit was accomplished by the
shuttle robotic arm at 5:26 AM EST on December 10th, and the telescope
was once again a fully operational, free-flying spacecraft.  Orbital
verification of HSTs improved capabilities is progressing on schedule,
toward a completion of the verification period by early March 1994.
Prior to the servicing mission, the HST during the year:
     * Discovered a double nucleus resulting from the merging of two
galaxies.
     * Discovered a remarkable pinwheel-shaped disk of gas in the
heart of a galaxy surrounded by clusters of young stars born as a
result of a collision of two galaxies.  The HST finding provides
strong data explaining the origin of galaxies.
     * Provided greatly refined measurements of the distance of a
nearby galaxy, providing a more precise yardstick for measuring the
size and age of the universe.
     * Discovered stars with "naked cores" representing an entire new
population of very blue stars which apparently have been cannibalized
of their outer gas layers by other passing stars.
     * Provided spectacular views of a shattered comet hurtling
towards a July 1994 collision with Jupiter, refining previous
ground-based observations.
     * Found disks of dust around newly formed stars, confirming
theories about the birth of planets.
     * Provided the earliest look at the rapidly ballooning bubble of
gas blasted off an exploding star, known as a nova.
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)
     * Provided the most precise temperature measurements yet obtained
of the radiant energy remaining from the explosion which began the
universe -- the toughest test of the so-called Big Bang theory.
Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (GRO)
     * Yielded two major breakthroughs which will enable scientists to
find remnants of old supernovae -- the remnants of exploded stars --
buried deep in the Milky Way galaxy.
     * Pinpointed an unusual star as the source of mysterious gamma
rays which have puzzled researchers since they were first detected
more than 80 years ago.
     * Discovered a new physical phenomenon - rare flashes of gamma
rays produced in the Earth's upper atmosphere above regions of intense
storms, possibly associated with huge electrical discharges.
     * Provided new and stronger evidence that gamma-ray bursts do not
originate in the Milky Way galaxy, and therefore probably come from
cosmological distances.
Rosat
     * Discovered a huge concentration of so-called dark matter in
space about 150 million light years from Earth (a light year is the
distance light travels in a year, about 5.8 trillion miles).  The
discovery appears to confirm that most dark matter in the universe is
concentrated in and around small groups of galaxies.  Dark matter is
believed to constitute up to 95 percent of the mass of the universe.
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE)
     * Provided new information which will help astronomers understand
the evolution of stars into the white-dwarf stage and the details of
how stars like Earth's sun die.
International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
     * Provided the first direct evidence that red supergiant stars --
the largest stars known -- end their existence in massive explosions
known as supernovae.
Mars Observer
     * Just weeks after transmitting its first -- and only -- image of
Mars from 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) away, the first
U.S. mission to the Red Planet fell silent just as the spacecraft was
preparing to enter orbit around Mars.  An independent panel was formed
soon after by Dan Goldin to investigate why the spacecraft failed to
reestablish communications following a propellant tank pressurization
operation just two days prior to orbit insertion.  Another panel was
formed to study a return mission to Mars to try to capture the science
objectives of Mars Observer.
Galileo
     * Encountered and provided high resolution images of the asteroid
Ida in August.  Ida is the second asteroid Galileo has flown by on its
way to explore Jupiter in 1995.
Magellan
     * The successful first attempt to "aerobrake" a spacecraft by
dipping into the atmosphere of a planet was achieved by Magellan at
Venus in August.  Magellan's orbit was changed from highly elliptical
to nearly circular by this maneuver of dragging through the thick
Venusian atmosphere repeatedly over a period of 70 days.  From the new
lower circular orbit the spacecraft was able to begin to profile the
planet's gravity, especially in the polar regions, giving a better
understanding of the planet's interior.
Gravity Wave Experiment
     * Three interplanetary spacecraft -- Mars Observer, Galileo and
Ulysses --  were used in an experiment attempting to prove the
existence of elusive waves in the universe's gravitational field,
marking the first time three spacecraft have ever made observations
simultaneously.  Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational
waves, but one has never been detected directly.  Scientists are
studying the data from the three spacecraft.
UNDERSTANDING THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT
Ulysses
     * Became the first spacecraft to reach further south than the
most southerly dip of the sun's magnetic equator.  In this previously
unexplored region, Ulysses observed that the fast-moving stream of
charged particles called the solar wind is twice as fast, but less
dense, than near the sun's equator.  Forty-one research papers
resulting from the joint NASA/European Space Agency Ulysses mission
were presented at the 1993 fall meeting of the American Geophysical
Union on Dec. 6.
     * Detected interstellar gas and micron-sized grains of
interstellar dust flowing into the solar system.  The mission is on
its way to explore the polar regions of the sun.
Sampex
     * Pinpointed the location of a new radiation belt around the
Earth composed of cosmic rays which result when the solar wind
interacts with the thin gas between the stars.
Voyager
     * Detected radio waves believed to come from the
long-sought-after heliopause -- the boundary that separates the solar
system from interstellar space.  Voyager 1, now about 5 billion miles
from the sun, and Voyager 2, now about 4 billion miles from the sun,
were launched over 15 years ago.
UPPER ATMOSPHERE AIRBORNE RESEARCH
     * Unexpected huge flashes of upper atmosphere lightning which may
affect atmospheric ozone were recorded for the first time and studied
by NASA scientists using a special low-light-level all-sky camera
aboard research aircraft.
EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES
          For the 6th consecutive year, NASA's expendable launch
vehicles (ELVs) provided 100 percent successful launches.  Six
expendable vehicles were launched this year.
The first, TDRS-F, was deployed from the Space Shuttle on Jan. 13 and
placed into orbit with an Inertial Upper Stage.  SEDS-1, the first
successful demonstration of a deployable tether system, was launched
on a Delta II ELV on March 29.  On June 25 a Scout ELV launched the
Radiation Calibration experiment, becoming the 22nd consecutive
successful Scout launch.
     The Plasma Motor Generator was launched on a Delta II rocket on
June 26, demonstrating the feasibility of an electrodynamic tether
system.  On Aug. 9, the NOAA-I Polar METSAT was launched into a polar
orbit aboard an Atlas rocket.  The Transfer Orbit Stage upper stage
successfully placed the Advanced Communications Teechnology Satellite
(ACTS) into orbit following deployment from the Space Shuttle on Sept.
12.
           LIFE AND MICROGRAVITY SCIENCES AND APPLICATIONS
Life and Biomedical Sciences
   The Spacelab Life Sciences-2 mission, SLS-2, the longest Space
Shuttle mission to date, carried 14 experiments concentrating on the
cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary systems, neuroscience, regulatory
physiology and musculoskeletal systems of the body.  The experiments
performed on Columbia's crew and laboratory animals, along with data
collected on the SLS-1 mission in June 1991, provided the most
detailed and interrelated physiological measurements acquired in the
space environment since the Skylab program in 1973 and 1974.  SLS-2
was flown in October.
   NASA established a U.S./Russian satellite telemedicine program
known as "Spacebridge to Moscow."  This cooperative program was
demonstrated to members of Congress in November.  The demonstration
linked clinical consultants on Capitol Hill by satellite with
physicians in Russia and West Virginia.
   In March, NASA selected the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center, Dallas, to become the NASA Specialized Center of
Research and Training in integrated physiology.  The center will be
designed to contribute a better understanding of how different organ
systems of various species react to space flight.
   Several months later, NASA and the National Institute on Deafness
and Other Communication Disorders jointly decided to place the Center
for Vestibular Research at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
The major goal of this collaboration is to enhance basic knowledge and
understanding of vestibular functioning by providing investigators
with greater access to NASA's unique ground-based research facilities
and to space flight.
   NASA scientists spent October and November in Antarctica to test
telepresence technology which may be used in the future to explore
Mars.  Scientists used a modified mini-submarine called a
Telepresence-Controlled Remotely Operated Vehicle, to explore 800 feet
below the surface of McMurdo Sound near Ross Island.  Telepresence
technology allowed scientists on land to use head movements to point
the cameras on the underwater vehicle.  The vehicle was steered
remotely from California.
Microgravity Sciences and Applications
   NASA and American Bio-Technologies Inc., of Cambridge, Mass.,
teamed together in an attempt to contribute to a better understanding
of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).  Under the April
agreement, NASA would use advanced x-ray crystallography technology to
advance fundamental knowledge of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
and AIDS, to develop new and promising therapeutic approaches for HIV
and AIDS, and to develop superior biological materials for vaccine
development and HIV detection.
   April also was the launch of Spacelab D-2.  This German Spacelab
mission carried one NASA microgravity and two NASA life sciences
experiments.
   In November, NASA announced that it will design and build the Space
Station Furnace Facility, the first major element of Space Station
scientific instrumentation and the focus of microgravity materials
science.
                    MISSION TO PLANET EARTH (MTPE)
   The Office of Mission to Planet Earth continued to collect and
analyze data that ultimately will allow humans to make informed policy
decisions about how their actions are affecting the global
environment.  Highlighting Mission to Planet Earth research were new
findings about ozone depletion, tropical deforestation, oceanography,
climate, and the solid Earth itself.
OZONE STUDIES
   Using data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS),
scientists from the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., in
April determined that ozone levels over the mid-latitudes of the
Northern Hemisphere had reached record low levels in the second half
of 1992.  These low ozone values persisted into early 1993.
   Other ozone studies, conducted by the Upper Atmosphere Research
Satellite (UARS), showed ozone levels over the Arctic were depleted 10
to 20 percent from 1992.  UARS also observed high, persistent levels
of chlorine monoxide, a key gas involved in ozone depletion, over the
Arctic.
   Late in the year, scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration observed the lowest ozone values ever seen,
recorded in the Antarctic "ozone hole" on October 6.
   TOMS aboard Nimbus-7 ceased operating in May.  Launched in 1978,
TOMS/Nimbus-7 provided more than 14 years of continuous data on global
ozone levels.  Data from TOMS and other U.S. and international
research programs provided the scientific underpinning for
international agreements in the 1980s to phase out the use of
ozone-depleting chemicals in electronics and other industries.
   The global-ozone data set is being extended without interruption by
the TOMS instrument aboard a Russian Meteor-3 satellite.  Launched in
1991, TOMS/Meteor-3 will be complemented in 1994 with the launch of
another TOMS on NASA's first Earth Probe satellite.
DEFORESTATION
   In June, scientists from the Goddard Space Flight Center and the
University of New Hampshire documented increasing threats to wildlife
habitat in the Amazon Basin.  Using data from the NASA-developed
Landsat-4 and -5 satellites, the scientists showed that the physical
extent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Basin is less than had
been estimated.  However, the fragmentation of the rain forest and the
"edge effects" on the perimeters of these forest fragments are greater
than had been believed, potentially increasing the threat to
biological diversity.
VOLCANOLOGY
   Volcanos and their effects also received attention from Mission to
Planet Earth.  A study by scientists at the Langley Research Center,
Hampton, Va., using data from the spaceborne Earth Radiation Budget
Experiment, indicated that the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines slightly cooled the Earth well into 1992.  This study was
the first unambiguous, direct measurement of volcanic "forcing" of
changes in the Earth's climate.
   In September, scientists and aircraft teams from the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., and the Stennis Space Center,
Miss., took part in an historic mission.  Using infrared instruments,
the teams conducted unprecedented aerial surveys of volcanoes in the
Kamchatkan peninsula of eastern Russia, yielding extensive data that
will be used in joint U.S.-Russian studies.  As part of the mission, a
new direct air corridor was defined between Shemya Air Force Base,
Alaska, and Elisovo, Russia.  For the first time since 1943, a Russian
citizen flew as a crew member aboard a U.S. research aircraft.
OCEANOGRAPHY
   The U.S.-French TOPEX/POSEIDON spacecraft continued its precision
measurements of changes in global sea levels.  In February, scientists
used this data to correctly predict that the ongoing El Nio event
would be strengthened, leading to wetter and colder than normal
winters in the eastern United States.  In November, this data
indicated conditions were primed for development of another El Nio
event in the winter of 1993-94.
   Using new, improved satellite-tracking technologies, along with
more accurate measurements of the Earth's gravity field,
TOPEX/POSEIDON is measuring global sea-level changes with
unprecedented accuracy:  approximately 2 inches for short-term changes
and 0.4 inches for long-term changes.  A cooperative program between
NASA and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French
space agency, TOPEX/POSEIDON is providing data that will be used to
better understand the oceans' role in climate change.
SPACE FLIGHTS
   MTPE also launched three space missions this year.  April saw the
flight of the second Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and
Science (ATLAS-2), aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.  ATLAS-2
consists of seven instruments to study atmospheric chemistry and solar
energy, focusing on the processes of ozone depletion.
   ATLAS-2 continued the spaceborne segment of Mission to Planet
Earth, which began in 1991 with the launch of UARS.  MTPE scientists
continue to acquire and analyze data from UARS, TOPEX/POSEIDON,
TOMS/Meteor-3 and the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite.  MTPE
scientists also are analyzing data from out-of-service U.S. weather
satellites and international spacecraft.
   The first phase of Mission to Planet Earth will continue in 1994
with nine satellite and Space Shuttle launches.  These missions,
including two NOAA weather satellites, will provide data on the
Earth's land surfaces, ocean circulation and biological productivity,
ice cover, ozone, solar energy and atmospheric chemistry.
   In August, NASA launched the NOAA-I satellite, an operational
spacecraft used by NOAA in its weather observations.  Contact with the
spacecraft was lost on Aug. 21, with a failure review report due in
early 1994.
   MTPE also completed development of the Advanced Communications
Technology Satellite (ACTS).  Carried into space by the Space Shuttle
Discovery in September, ACTS will be turned over to NASA's Office of
Advanced Concepts and Technology when checkout is completed for an
ambitious program of communications experiments.
OTHER RESEARCH PROGRAMS
   Ongoing aircraft and ground-based studies complemented MTPE's
space-based research.  An international research program called
TOGA-COARE studied how parts of the Pacific Ocean exchange energy and
moisture with the atmosphere.  These measurements, the most
comprehensive ever gathered on this phenomenon, will provide new
insights into the El Nio weather pattern and its worldwide effects.
   An aircraft survey, using a NASA-developed remote-sensing platform,
showed that areas of the Greenland ice sheet thickened by as much as 6
to 7 feet between 1980 and 1993.  Scientists want to make repeated
measurements of ice sheets and sea ice to see how they respond to
changes in climate.
APPLICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY
   Mission to Planet Earth programs also found immediate applications
to natural hazards of 1993.  MTPE aircraft surveyed the summer floods
in the American midwest and brush fires in California, helping federal
and local officials estimate damage.  Satellite data on African
vegetation was turned over to the U.S. Agency for International
Development to predict the likelihood of famine and locust plagues in
some areas.
   Technologically, MTPE continued to improve techniques used to
gather environmental data, especially geological data.  MTPE
technology applied to European satellite data was used to map the 1992
Landers earthquake with an accuracy of approximately 0.4 inches,
showing variations in seismic stress near the epicenter.
NASA-developed precision receivers for the Defense Department's Global
Positioning System were used in field studies in earthquake-prone
areas to better understand these natural hazards.
   MTPE also continued to lay the groundwork for future programs.  In
March the agency awarded a contract to Hughes Applied Information
Systems, Inc., Seabrook, Md., for the Earth Observing System Data and
Information System (EOSDIS) Core System (ECS).  The EOSDIS Core System
is a primary component of EOSDIS, a geographically distributed
computer system to support the operation of EOS satellites and the
distribution, processing and archiving of EOS and other environmental
data.
   EOS, which will begin launching in 1998, and EOSDIS form the
centerpiece of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, which studies how the
global environment is changing.  Using the unique perspective
available from space, NASA and its partners are observing, monitoring
and assessing large-scale environmental processes that affect climate
change.
   MTPE satellite data, complemented by aircraft and ground data, will
allow humans to better understand natural environmental changes and to
distinguish natural changes from human-induced changes worldwide.
This will be essential to humans making informed decisions about
protecting their environment.
                            SPACE STATION
     1993 represented an unprecedented year of change in the Space
Station's nine-year history.  The year began with continued and
intensified efforts to march Space Station Freedom through a series of
critical design reviews leading to construction, flight assembly and
human occupation of the Freedom configuration shortly after the turn
of the Century.
     The reviews were successfully completed by mid-year.  Freedom's
legacy, in terms of its technical systems, was guaranteed to live on.
But also by mid-year, Space Station Freedom, per se, no longer
existed.  An entirely new Station design, nicknamed "Alpha," was being
put in place;  management and staffing of the Program was being
completely overhauled, restructured and relocated;  Civil Service
support was reduced by more than half.  By year's end, the Program was
about to receive a new name.  And after unanimous invitation by all
Space Station principals, Russia had agreed to become a full-fledged
international partner.
     The year's dramatic, course-changing sequence of events began
shortly after the new Administration assumed office:
   March 9.  Administrator Goldin notified all cognizant Agency
participants that the President, while stating his support for
development of a space station, had directed the Agency to redesign
the Station in order to make it more efficient, effective and capable
of producing greater returns on our investment.
     The President also directed NASA to create an independent
senior-level review team to report and submit its findings to the
Vice-President, Office of Science and Technology Policy and other
Administration officials by early June.  This senior-level panel
(a.k.a. "the Vest Committee") would be called the Advisory Committee
on the Redesign of the Space Station, and would be chaired by Dr.
Charles Vest, President of MIT, who was appointed on March 25.
     To assist the panel, NASA established a Redesign Team which would
be led, initially, by Dr. Joseph Shea and subsequently by Deputy
Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Bryan O'Connor.  The
45-member team, comprised of NASA employees and representatives from
Freedom's international partners, began work on March 10.
   June 7.  O'Connor's Redesign Team submitted its final report to the
Vest Committee.  The report proposed three technically-viable options
for the new Space Station:  "Option A," utilizing a modular build-up
approach that would use existing flight-proven hardware as well as
cost-effective Freedom systems;  "Option B," to be derived from mature
Space Station Freedom designs and make maximum use of Freedom systems;
and "Option C," which would use a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle to
place a station into orbit with a single launch.
     The redesign team also addressed key management and
organizational issues associated with making the program more
efficient as well as cost-effective.  Among these recommendations,
which ultimately would be approved by the Administration, was
establishment of a 300-person core Program Office at a Host NASA
Center, and naming of a single Space Station prime contractor rather
than utilizing Freedom's multi-prime contractor approach.
   June 10.  Dr. Vest's Committee submitted its final report and
recommendations to the Administration.
   June 17.  The White House announced the President's selection of
"Option A" as the new Space Station design.  Administrator Goldin
subsequently formed a team to handle transition activities between
Freedom and the new design.  Bryan O'Connor led the transition effort.
Daily activities by the 35-member team were led by William Shepherd
who would subsequently be named as the new Space Station Program
Manager.  A Program Implementation Plan was to be submitted to the
Administration by September 7.
   August 17.  NASA announced the selection of the Johnson Space
Center, Houston, as the Host Center for the new Space Station Program
Office.  The Boeing Defense and Space Group was named as the new Space
Station Prime Contractor.
   September 7.  The Transition Team's "Alpha Station" Program
Implementation Plan was delivered to the Administration.  The Plan did
not include possible Russian participation in the Program.  The team
was asked to provide detailed cost and schedule estimates for Alpha
Station to the Administration by September 20, and to present, by
November 1, details of possible Russian involvement/participation in
the Space Station Program.
   September 20.  Cost and schedule information for "Alpha Station"
was submitted to the Administration.
   November 1.  An Addendum to the September 7 Program Implementation
Plan was delivered to the Administration detailing potential Russian
involvement in the Program.
                             SPACE FLIGHT
   The Space Shuttle once again showed its versatility in1993.  During
the year, the Shuttle deployed and retrieved various payloads, served
as laboratory for scientists and researchers and at the end of the
year became an orbiting service station as NASA astronauts removed and
replaced various elements of the Hubble Space Telescope.
   The STS-54 mission in January saw the deployment of the sixth in
the series of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.  During
Shuttle Mission STS-51 in September, a new Advanced Communications
Technology Satellite was delivered to geostationary orbit.  During
Shuttle Mission STS-57 in June, NASA astronauts retrieved the EURECA
satellite which had spent almost a year in orbit.  After being stowed
in the cargo bay, it was brought back to Earth and the experiments
aboard were delivered to the European Space Agency (ESA).
     Two Shuttle missions in 1993 carried the ESA-developed
pressurized spacelab module allowing the Shuttle to become an orbiting
laboratory.  The STS-55/Spacelab-D2 mission, which was launched April
26, saw the second flight of a mission devoted primarily to Germany
for conducting a wide range of experiments in the microgravity
environment of space.  The STS-58/Spacelab Life Sciences-2 mission,
launched October 18, involved NASA astronauts continuing the agency's
efforts to gain more knowledge on how the human body adapts in a
weightless condition and provide insight into medical problems
experienced by people on Earth.
     A new era in the commercial development of space began in June
during Shuttle Mission STS-57 when the privately-developed mid-deck
augmentation module known as SPACEHAB was carried in the Shuttle's
cargo bay.  The module provides additional access to crew-tended,
mid-deck lockers and experiments.
     The Shuttle became an orbiting astronomical observatory on
several missions during 1993.  The Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS)
payload carried on STS-54 in January, the Atmospheric Laboratory for
Applications and Science-2 (ATLAS-2) payload carried on STS-56 in
April, and the Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet
Spectrometer-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ORFEUS-SPAS) payload deployed
and retrieved on STS-51 in September, investigated such issues as the
origin and nature of the matter that fills the space between stars,
the relationship between the sun's energy output and Earth's
atmosphere, and the life-cycle of stars.
     During three Shuttle missions in 1993, NASA astronauts conducted
a series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) or spacewalks.  The EVAs,
conducted during STS-54 in January, STS-57 in June and STS-51 in
September, were designed to refine training methods for spacewalkers
by understanding  the differences between true microgravity and the
ground simulations used during training; prepare for the extensive
series of EVAs associated with the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope
Servicing Mission, and expand the EVA experience levels of the
astronauts' flight controllers and instructors in preparation for
construction of the space station.
     NASA's final Shuttle mission of 1993, STS-61,  was the much
anticipated first servicing mission to the orbiting Hubble Space
Telescope (HST).  On five consecutive nights, audiences around the
world watched as astronauts aboard Shuttle Endeavour removed and
replaced various components on HST.  The five EVAs performed on the
STS-61 mission set a new record for most spacewalks on a single
Shuttle flight and STS-61 astronaut  Tom Akers became the American
with the most EVA time in space with a total time to date of 29 hours,
40 minutes.
     In the Astronaut office, the biennial process for accepting
applications for mission specialist and pilot astronauts was
conducted.  After review of the applications, interviews and medical
evaluations, selections will be announced in the spring of 1994.
During the year astronauts Mae C. Jemison, Guion S. Bluford and Mark
Brown left the agency.  This year was also marked by the passing of
Donald "Deke" Slayton, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
     In March, Associate Administrator for Space Flight Jeremiah
Pearson announced that Leonard Nicholson would leave his position as
Space Shuttle Manager to become the Director of Engineering at the
Johnson Space Center.  Brewster Shaw took over the duties performed by
Nicholson in the position of Director of Space Shuttle Operations at
JSC.
     NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin announced in October that the
Office of Space Flight will assume responsibility for management of
the Space Station Program.  Goldin also named astronaut William
Shepard as the Space Station Program Manager at the Johnson Space
Center in Houston.
                             AERONAUTICS
     In 1993, NASA began to reinvigorate American investment in
aeronautical research.  The agency made steady progress in laying the
foundation for a future U.S. supersonic airliner, making air travel
"better, faster, cheaper" for millions of pilots and passengers, and
creating technology that industry can use to make its products even
more competitive in the world marketplace.
High-Speed Research
     In March, NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., was
tapped to lead the agency's multi-year High-Speed Research Program,
which is developing technology for an economically practical,
environmentally safe U.S. supersonic airliner.  Langley now manages
research in aerodynamics, airframe materials and several other
disciplines. The center also coordinates the efforts of other NASA
facilities working on engine technology, high-altitude atmospheric
research and technology flight tests.
     The start of fiscal year 1994 kicked off Phase II of the
High-Speed Research Program.  Phase II will move promising concepts
out of the laboratory and closer to practical application.
     During the next year, for example, NASA and industry expect to
agree on early designs for the engine combustion chamber and exhaust
nozzle components.  Phase II will include evaluations of how well
representative engine components perform, verification tests of
materials and flight tests of new wing and cockpit technology.
     In November, NASA selected the nation's two leading aircraft
engine manufacturers for negotiations leading to the first large Phase
II contract award.  The team of General Electric and Pratt & Whitney
will develop critical propulsion component technologies under a
contract estimated at just under $300 million.
Better Planes, Safer Skies
     Many NASA Aeronautics highlights in 1993 were part of the
agency's work to make tomorrow's aircraft and the nation's air traffic
control system safer, more efficient and more economical.
     In April, a NASA F-15 research plane based at Ames-Dryden Flight
Research Facility, Edwards, Calif., made the first controlled landing
using engine power only instead of normal flight controls.  The
successful touchdown was part of a NASA project to develop a
computer-assisted engine system that lets a plane fly and land safely
with its engines if normal plane control surfaces such as elevators,
rudder and ailerons are disabled.  The system makes the aircraft turn,
climb, descend and eventually land by varying the speed of the engines
one at a time or together.
     New systems technology for civil and military airplanes was the
focus of two projects flown on NASA's Systems Research Aircraft, a
specially-modified F-18 fighter at Dryden.  In May, the plane made the
first flight tests of an electric control actuator that needs less
wiring and performs better than the mechanical actuators now in
general use.
     In October, the F/18 started flight tests of a new control system
using fiber optics -- small bundles of light transmitting cables --
that weigh less and take up less space than the copper wiring in
today's aircraft.  Fiber optics also have better immunity to signal
interference, are free from short circuit arcing and can carry more
electronic signals.
     At Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., NASA did wind
tunnel tests on a full-scale Advanced Ducted Propulsor that could lead
to a new generation of quieter, more fuel-efficient passenger plane
engines.  The joint NASA/Pratt & Whitney project tested the large
ducted fan engine under simulated landing conditions, with an emphasis
on its ability to reverse thrust for slowing down during the
post-landing rollout.
     In July, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
unveiled the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS), a new
computerized tool that helps air traffic controllers schedule aircraft
arrivals more efficiently.  CTAS monitors incoming planes during their
last 20 minutes of flight and develops a plan to handle the traffic
according to the airport's spacing requirements.  The FAA announced
that it will put CTAS into operation at 12 selected U.S. airports and
forecasts that the system will save airlines nearly $600 million by
the year 2000.
Weather or Not to Fly
     NASA's Office of Aeronautics reached several milestones in its
research to make flying safer under adverse weather conditions.  A
special highlight came at the end of September, when NASA and the FAA
reported the results of their 7-year effort to study windshear --
sudden, violent changes in wind speed and direction -- and develop
airborne sensors that detect it.
     During a 3-day conference, the two agencies recapped how they had
worked together to take the technology for three different types of
sensors from the drawing board through flight tests to the commercial
aviation marketplace in just 5 years.  They also revealed that the FAA
is considering formal training programs to help pilots interact with
the new instruments effectively.
     Finally, NASA and the FAA described several innovative new
programs that will let airports around the world handle more planes
with fewer weather and traffic delays while maintaining today's high
safety standards.
     During the year, NASA finished tests of a new inflight weather
data device for pilots.  The Cockpit Weather Information Needs system,
developed by Langley Research Center, draws on commercial data sources
to generate in-cockpit maps of storms and lightning discharges.  In
simulations at Langley, pilots from 14 flight crews burned 5 percent
less fuel and flew 5 percent fewer miles to avoid bad weather when
using the system -- numbers that translate into savings of about $6
million per year for a typical airline.
     In August, NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, wrapped up 10
weeks of icing tests on a one-sixth scale model of a Sikorsky Black
Hawk helicopter, a design in wide use today.  The tests, which covered
a range of icing and forward flight conditions, will be used to
develop reliable methods to reduce icing certification costs and time.
Partnership with Industry
     In March, NASA and Learjet, Inc. announced an agreement to study
aircraft size and aerodynamics, research that could let the company
produce a new, economical business jet.  NASA planned to contribute
480 hours of wind tunnel time at Ames Research Center; Learjet is
building a tunnel model for the tests and will pay to develop and
flight test a prototype if the program results show the design is
commercially viable.
     NASA and the nation's large aerospace companies began working
together in April 1993 to see how NASA computer programs can help
industry design and produce airplanes more efficiently.  The goal of
the research being done by the Multidisciplinary Analysis and Design
Industrial Consortium is to integrate all the factors involved in
aircraft design:  aerodynamics, propulsion, flight controls and
cockpit displays.
     Instead of providing a technology "spinoff", NASA Aeronautics
took advantage of a unique "spin-in" by adapting an existing high-tech
x-ray system to improve inspections of aging aircraft.  Langley
Research Center began working with the system's developer, Digiray
Corp., to modify it for inspections of wings, turbines and propeller
blades possibly affected by corrosion, cracks and disbonding.
"Better, Faster, Cheaper" Aeronautics Research
     In January, NASA announced that an engineer at Ames-Dryden Flight
Research Facility had come up with an idea that improves the way
engineers measure stresses and strains on products.  The method uses a
"constant current loop" that prevents errors caused by temperature
changes in the wires normally found in strain gauge instrumentation.
     Engineers at Dryden also came up with a design for a new engine
inlet rake that is saving American taxpayers more than $1 million on
an aeronautics research project.  The device, which will provide air
flow data in a NASA F/A-18 that flies at high angles of attack, is
more compact and requires many fewer changes to the aircraft than
previous instruments.
     In November, NASA revealed that Lewis researchers had invented a
new silicon carbide crystal growth process called "site competition
epitaxy."  The process can be used to produce superior semiconductors
found in the electronics aboard aircraft, spacecraft and ground
vehicles.  Silicon carbide semiconductors can withstand temperatures
up to 1200 degrees F, much higher than conventional semiconductors.
     NASA's quest for better ways to do research even extended to
whole aircraft.  In April, an SR-71 "Blackbird" based at Dryden did
high-altitude astronomy studies with an ultraviolet camera from NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.  The Blackbird has the
unique flexibility to carry science experiments on much shorter notice
than satellites and sounding rockets.  NASA also is using the plane
for aeronautics studies in the High-Speed Research Program.
Engineers for Tomorrow
     The Office of Aeronautics started three programs in 1993 intended
to foster educational programs that will help create a cadre of young,
highly skilled aeronautical engineers for the 21st century.
     Syracuse University, the University of Maryland and the
University of Texas at Arlington received NASA funding for centers
that will concentrate on hypersonic aeronautics -- flight at more than
five times the speed of sound.  Each school will get $200,000 annually
for 3 years to create undergraduate and graduate curricula, course
work and text materials.  The effort is important because hypersonic
research is expected to increase, but the field is dominated by older
engineers who may soon retire.
     NASA also announced an initiative that will create a formal
concentration of aerospace engineering courses at the historically
black Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, La.  Under
the program, students will take courses and do hands-on aeronautics
and space research projects under the mentorships of professors.  Part
of the 5-year, $2.5 million NASA grant will let students perform
research or other scholarly activities at NASA and aerospace industry
facilities.
     In November, the Office of Aeronautics picked 20 universities to
receive grants for the first phase of a new multidisciplinary design
and analysis training program.  Each school will get about $50,000 to
define an aeronautics multidisciplinary curriculum and graduate
research program.  They also will prepare proposals for Phase II of
the effort, which will give five of the universities $200,000 to begin
their programs in the 1994-95 academic year.
                   ADVANCED CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY
     In October 1992, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced a
series of organizational changes in several of NASA's programs.  One
of these changes was the creation of the Office of Advanced Concepts &
Technology.  This new office was created from the merger of the former
Office of Commercial Programs and the former Space Technology
Directorate in the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology.
     The new organization was charged with establishing: a highly
professional systems engineering team, acting as a focal point within
NASA to perform detailed feasibility and cost analysis of advanced
concepts; an open door to businesses and universities that want help
and expertise in developing new ideas and technologies; and to be a
place to transfer technology to the commercial sector through whatever
mechanisms the technology user community deems most effective.
     In January 1993, the robot Dante partially descended into the
volcanic crater of Mount Erebus in Antarctica until its mission was
aborted due to a severed fiber optics cable, which resulted in the
loss of communications between the robot and its control station.
Developed by NASA and Carnegie Mellon University, Dante was designed
to test prototype robotic technologies for unmanned planetary
exploration and to advance scientific knowledge of Mount Erebus.
Despite the optics cable problem, the project successfully tested new
telerobotic technologies and remote operation of the robot via
satellite communications.
     OACT began a 3-year technology commercialization experiment in
February 1993, by funding two Technology Commercialization Centers,
one at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., and the
other at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.  The goals of this
project are to shorten the learning curve associated with successfully
commercializing the agency's technology and to reduce the time
required for this transfer to take place.  The program is being
managed and operated by the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas
(UT), Austin, through a cooperative agreement with Ames and JSC.  NASA
selected the IC2 Institute because of its already proven
laboratory-to-market model, which specializes in technology
incubation--taking the technological output of a laboratory and
pairing that technology with appropriate partners in the business and
financial community to create and foster new industries and new jobs.
     In June 1993 the maiden flight of the SPACEHAB module occurred on
Space Shuttle mission STS-57.  The module, which was privately funded
and developed by SPACEHAB, Inc. of Arlington, Va., provides an
additional 1,100 cubic feet of pressurized experiment space on the
Shuttle, quadrupling the available working and storage volume.
     On SPACEHAB's first flight, 15 commercial experiments were
conducted.  Four of NASA's CCDSs and the Johnson Space Center
collaborated with 24 industry affiliates to perform biotechnology
experiments.  Four other CCDSs and the Langley Research Center
collaborated with 11 industry partners to perform materials science
experiments.  Many SPACEHAB-1 investigators will continue their
research on subsequent SPACEHAB flights, the next presently scheduled
for February 1994.
     Substantial progress was made in preparation for the first flight
of the Wake Shield Facility on Space Shuttle mission STS-60.  It will
become the first commercial production facility to manufacture
extremely pure materials in low Earth orbit.  The Wake Shield Facility
is a 12 foot stainless steel disk with four attachment points for
small payloads.  It will trail 40 miles behind the Shuttle for two
days of free flight and then be retrieved and returned to Earth.
     The Wake Shield Facility was conceived and built by the Space
Vacuum Epitaxy CCDS at the University of Houston and by Space
Industries, Inc. of League City, Texas.  Together, the CCDS and Space
Industries designed, built and integrated the Wake Shield Facility for
approximately one sixth of the cost that would have been incurred
under traditional aerospace hardware development programs.
     In another robotic development, a satellite link was successfully
used in summer 1993 by scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in
Mountain View, Calif., to maneuver a Russian-built robotic rover in a
Moscow laboratory. The operator wore a video headset that displayed a
teleoperator interface developed at Ames and used a computer to steer
the rover's six cone-shaped titanium wheels. The test was a
collaboration between NASA, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems and
scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute for
Space Research and the Russian Space Agency.  The rover was a
prototype of a design which Russian scientists hope to land on Mars in
1996.  The objective was to prove the feasibility of the teleoperator
interface.
     OACT selected 52 proposals to develop small technology flight
experiments in the INSpace Technology Experiments Program (INSTEP).
The objective of INSTEP is to validate technology concepts developed
by NASA, industry and universities which require space flight testing
and evaluation.  The awards covered eight distinct technology areas
identified as high priority by NASA's customers.  Five of the 52 were
student proposals, solicited proposals specifically from U.S.
university students to provide them with an opportunity to participate
in space technology research.
     NASA successfully launched the Advanced Communications Technology
Satellite (ACTS) from Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51 in September
1993.  During its development phase, OACT and NASA's Mission to Planet
Earth collaborated.  Following on-orbit checkout, OACT will operate a
two-year experiment phase with university and industry collaborators.
The fundamental goal of the ACTS program is to test and prove the
satellite's advanced technologies and to evaluate the potential
applications of the technologies that will promote the creation of new
telecommunications services, thus improving the nation's economy and
enhancing U.S. competitiveness in the global telecommunications
market.
     During the two year ACTS Experiments program, participants from
industry, academia and government will conduct investigations in
medical imagery, distance education, business and supercomputer
networking, high definition television, and many more areas.
     NASA joined forces with four other federal agencies to manage the
Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP).  The TRP, announced by
President Clinton in March 1993, is a $472 million effort to help U.S.
industry respond to the twin challenges posed by decreased defense
spending and increased global economic competition.  Other agencies
involved in the TRP are the National Science Foundation; the
Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency; the
Department of Energy; and the Department of Commerce's National
Institute of Standards and Technology.  OACT is representing NASA's
technological and technology transfer expertise in support of this
important national project.  Approximately 2,800 proposals were
received by the TRP during a two month solicitation period that ended
in late July.  The proposals were submitted by companies,
universities, and state and local governments.  In general, proposer's
for TRP grants were required to contribute at least 50 percent of the
cost of the project to ensure commercial relevance.
     The nation's top technology managers gathered in Anaheim, Calif.,
in December 1993 at TECHNOLOGY 2003, the fourth national technology
transfer conference and exposition.  Sponsored by NASA, NASA Tech
Briefs magazine and the Technology Utilization Foundation, the event
spotlighted leading edge technologies from NASA and other federal
agencies which U.S. industry can use to develop new or improved
products and processes.  More than 8,000 attendees toured the more
than 300 exhibits during the two-day conference.
                         SPACE COMMUNICATIONS
Space Network
   The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite TDRS-6 was successfully
launched in January aboard the Shuttle Endeavor.  NASA's Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS).  TDRSS is a space-based satellite
network developed to meet telecommunications needs essential to the
success of Space Shuttle, space station and other low Earth-orbiting
spacecraft missions.
   The TDRS-6 fulfilled the essential requirement of having two fully
operational satellites and a fully operational "ready reserve"
capability in Earth orbit.  This assures that NASA communications,
telemetry and data acquisition capabilities required by space missions
would not be jeopardized by a single satellite failure.
   April 1993 marked the 10th anniversary of NASA's TDRSS. The system
replaced a nearly 25-year-old, world-wide, ground-based tracking and
communications network.   The TDRSS began with the launch of the first
satellite on April 4, 1983, on board the Space Shuttle Challenger.
   The TDRSS has transmitted data and pictures roughly equivalent to
the total contents of  the Library of Congress -- the nation's largest
library with 100 million volumes of information and has enabled NASA
to cut telecommunications costs by as much as 60 percent, while
increasing data acquisition and communications time for Earth-orbiting
spacecraft.
   NASA's two TDRSS ground stations, located in White Sands, New
Mexico, received Native American names as a result of a "Name the
Ground Terminals"contest held for New Mexico students. The names
selected were Cacique (kah-see- keh) and Danzante (dahn-zahn-teh).
These names are derived from the Tortugas  Indians' ceremonial dance
that is part of their culture.
         The winning entry was submitted by four female students from
Zia Middle School, Las Cruces, NM. Entries had to relate to local
culture and be appropriate for space communications and America's
involvement in space.  The contest was sponsored by NASA and the New
Mexico Space Grant
 Consortium.
   A remote terminal was established in Australia to augment the
science return from the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) after
failure of the on-board tape recorders.  This facility will allow
scientists to collect approximately 30 percent more science data,
depending on GRO's attitude.  In addition, the facility will allow
engineers to better monitor the health of the spacecraft.
Communications And Data Systems
   An Interfacility Fiber Optic Link was completed that connects the
White Sands Ground Terminal, N.M., and the Second Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite Ground Terminal, also in New Mexico.  This link
communicates operational data between these sites, increasing
reliability for the expanded TDRSS to meet requirements for future
NASA missions.
   NASA's Communications network implemented the German Space
Operations Center communications requirements used for the German
Spacelab D-2  mission.  The network provided circuits that enabled the
ground control operators in Germany to communicate with the astronauts
on board the U.S. Space Shuttle to assure D-2 science mission success.
   A new control center called the Transportable Payload Operations
Control Center was successfully demonstrated with the launch of the
first SAMPEX  mission.  The center will provide significant cost
savings through reuse of over 75 percent of the existing software for
future missions.
   The data processing program received and processed over 10 trillion
bits of data from free-flyer Earth-orbiting spacecraft and Shuttle
payloads.  The data was converted to forms the science community could
interpret, then distributed to world-wide scientific facilities and
communities.
Ground Network
   NASA's Ground Network Facilities provided communications to a
variety of spacecraft engaged in exploration of other planets and the
outer reaches of the solar system.  This included imaging of the
Asteroid Ida by the Galileo spacecraft, the aerobraking experiment
performed by Magellan in the Venusian atmosphere and the radar imaging
of another asteroid, Toutatis.
   The longest baseline communication link operated by humankind took
place between NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft and the Deep Space Network
at a distance from Earth to Pioneer 10 just under 5. 3 billion miles
(8.6 billion kilometers).  Radio signals traveling at the speed of
light require 15 hours and 55 minutes to make the round trip from
Earth to Pioneer 10 and back.
   A major milestone in space communications was achieved when NASA
scientists successfully transmitted laser signals to the Galileo
spacecraft at a distance of 1.3 million miles (2.2 million
kilometers).  The Galileo Optical Experiment is part of a program to
show that future deep space missions can use laser beams to send back
to Earth larger volumes of space-acquired data thaN is currently
possible with radio signals.
   Laser beams were transmitted simultaneously from the Table Mountain
Observatory near Wrightwood, Calif., and the U.S. Air Force Phillips
Laboratory's Starfire Optical Range near Albuquerque, N.M. Two sites
were used to provide signal diversity if weather blocked a laser beam
at one site.  Laser beams from both sites were detected by Galileo's
on-board camera.  Future space missions may require laser beams to
communicate larger quantities of scientific data.
                     SAFETY AND MISSION ASSURANCE
   The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) provided
independent safety oversight, technical assessments, safety assurance
engineering, policy development, risk assessment and mishap
investigations.  In addition, significant contributions were made
involving Space Station planning and redesign, panels, design reviews
and special studies.
   A new research facility in Fairmont, W. Va., was established to
support NASA's work in advanced research, stimulate commercialization
efforts and provide training in a variety of engineering and
technology areas.  Called the Independent Verification and Validation
facility and leased from West Virginia University, it will be managed
and operated by OSMA.
   The facility will work on a variety of tools, techniques and
applications for systems software essential to the successful
operation of NASA ground systems, spacecraft and aeronautical
computers.
   The facility and the university will work closely to develop and
conduct a graduate-level program in the safety, reliability and
quality assurance discipline, evolving into a certified 2-year
curriculum with students earning A masters degree in assurance
technology -- the field of testing, analysis and risk management that
increases the successful operation of flight systems.
   The overall facility goal is to become a Center of Excellence and
to become world leaders in specific areas of science, technology and
research and development.
   A NASA-wide, lessons-learned program was implemented to support the
development of new aerospace hardware and procedures to lessen and
possibly eliminate repetition of past problems.  The NASA program will
be part of an inter-governmental system presently containing more than
5,800 lessons incorporated from the Air Force, Navy and Federal
Aviation Administration.
   A cooperative agreement was signed with Honeywell, Clearwater,
Fla., for the first-ever space flight of an all-solid-state gyro.
Called the Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyro, the technology of this
cooperative venture will be transitioned to industrial and other
spacecraft systems following flight demonstration aboard the X-Ray
Timing Explorer spacecraft in 1995-96.
   The first cooperative agreement with a profit-making organization,
the Ensign Bickford Co., Simsbury, Conn., will allow the first
validation and demonstration of an advanced, laser-diode initiated
ordnance to be connducted.  The laser diode approach will allow more
efficient spacecraft ground system operations and improve system
safety.  The agreement will culminate in a flight demonstration on an
unmanned launch vehicle.  This new technology is critical to the next
generation of spacecraft and launch vehicles.
   A NASA Alert Reporting System was developed to provide a direct,
electronic closed-loop for NASA centers to more rapidly identify and
respond to spacecraft hardware and software problems.  The system will
provide a more efficient method to search the Government-Industry
Defense Exchange Program database and NASA Preliminary Alerts system
for cross-referencing a part or process.  These systems act as "watch
dogs" to respond to potential problems prior to launches or other
activities.
   OSMA chaired a Shuttle Processing Review Team to review Shuttle
processing, launch operations and previous mishaps, incidents and
close calls at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).  The team reported that
launch rates have improved and processing times and in-flight
anomalies decreased.  In addition, they concluded that safety
continues to be the number one priority in all Shuttle operations.
                            INTERNATIONAL
   On Dec. 6, 1993, the participating nations in the Space Station
Program -- the United States, Canada, Japan and nine members of the
European Space Agency -- agreed to invite Russia to join the
International Space Station.  Vice President Gore and Russian Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin confirmed the historic joining of the
U.S. and the Russian human space programs during a joint commission
meeting in Moscow on Dec. 16.
   It was agreed that the United States and Russia will embark on a
three-phase program of human space flight, beginning with use of the
U.S. Space Shuttle and Russian Mir space station and followed by
Russian involvement as a partner in the international cooperative
Space Station program.
Protocol Signed
   On Oct. 5, 1992, NASA and the Russian Space Agency (RSA) concluded
the Implementing Agreement on Human Space Flight Cooperation, a
program which begins with the training of Russian cosmonauts for a
flight on the Space Shuttle in January 1994.  A protocol was signed by
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and RSA Director General Yuri
Koptev on Dec. 16 at the U.S./Russian Joint Commission meeting in
Moscow, expanding the terms of this agreement to include up to 10
Shuttle flights to Mir, a total of 24 months time onboard Mir for U.S.
astronauts, a program of scientific and technological research and the
upgrade and extension of the Mir lifetime during the period 1995-1997.
   Phase One will provide valuable experience and test data to greatly
reduce technical risks associated with the construction and operation
of the international space station, as well as early opportunities for
extended scientific and research activities.
   The first step to implement this multi phase approach will begin
shortly.  Sergei K. Krikalev will become the first Russian cosmonaut
to fly on the Space Shuttle during the STS-60 mission scheduled for
launch in early February 1994.  Col. Vladimir G.Titov, the backup
cosmonaut for STS-60, will fly on the STS-63 mission currently
scheduled for launch in January 1995.
   Phase Two will combine U.S. and Russian components to create a
human-tended orbital research facility.  This facility will
significantly expand and enlarge the scientific and research
activities initiated in Phase One and will form the core around which
the international space station will be constructed.  Russian
involvement will permit earlier station operations than otherwise
possible.
Construction Completion
   Phase Three completes the construction of the international space
station, which will have a permanent human presence and full
operational and research capability.  The station will have an
operational lifetime of approximately 10 years.  Phase Three will
incorporate the technologies and capabilities tested and developed in
Phases One and Two and will significantly expand the science and
research activities of these phases.
   The Space Station partners have charged NASA to enter into an
interim agreement with Russia to enable immediate Russian involvement
in the technical activities of the program, while negotiations proceed
at both the government and agency-levels for Russia to become a full
partner on Space Station.
   On Dec. 16 NASA and RSA also signed a contract for up to $100
million per year during the period 1994-1997 for NASA procurement from
the RSA of supplies and services associated with Phase One and
selected elements of Phase Two of the human space flight program.
These include preparations for the Shuttle missions to Mir and use of
the Spektr and Priroda scientific modules onboard Mir.
   Also covered are joint technology developments in such areas as
solar dynamics, environmentally-controlled life support systems and
space suits.  The contract also calls for work on Phase Two activities
such as modifications to the Russian Energy Block and the Mir service
module, which will be part of the International Space Station.  The
contract also funds continued design work on the Soyuz-TM to support
its planned use as an Assured Crew Return Vehicle onboard the
International Space Station.
   NASA and the Russian State Committee for the Defense Branches of
Industry (GOSKOMOBORONPROM) signed a memorandum of understanding on
Dec. 16 in Moscow to cooperate in eight areas in fundamental
aeronautical sciences.  The agreement was signed by NASA Administrator
Daniel S. Goldin and GOSKOMOBORONPROM Chairman Viktor K. Glukhikh.
   This agreement initiates a new era of cooperation with Russia in
Aeronautics and implements decisions reached during the first
Gore/Chernomyrdin joint commission meeting held in Washington, D.C.,
in September 1993.  It established a NASA/GOSKOMOBORONPROM Joint
Working Group to manage the overall relationship.  The eight program
areas are transition and turbulence, composite structures and
materials, chemically reacting flows, thermal protection system
materials, environmental concerns in aviation, hypersonic
technologies, experimental test facilities and advanced aerospace
materials.
German D-2
   During April 26-May 6, the German D-2 reimbursable Spacelab mission
(STS-55) was successfully completed.  Approximately 90 experiments
were carried and two German Payload Specialists, Ulrich Walter and
Hans Schlegel.  Payload control and operations were handled by the
German Aerospace Research Establishment's Space Operations Control
Center at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.
   Most of the D-2 experiments were provided by the German Space
Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA).  Japan provided a number
of experiments and NASA furnished three experiments.
   ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) was retrieved
successfully on June 24 during the STS-57 mission.  EURECA was
deployed from Atlantis on STS-46 on Aug. 1, 1992.  During its
approximately 10-month stay in orbit, EURECA supported investigations
in processing metallurgical samples, growing crystals and conducting
biological and biochemical studies.
   During September, the German Orbiting and Retrieval Far and Extreme
Ultraviolet Spectrograph (ORFEUS), a free-flying scientific instrument
mounted on the German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ASTRO-SPAS) was
successfully deployed and retrieved on the STS-51 mission.
ORFEUS-SPAS was the first in a series of cooperative missions using
the German-built ASTRO-SPAS science satellite, which will have
combined NASA and German-provided payloads.
   ESA provided replacement Solar Arrays for the Hubble Space
Telescope which were successfully installed during the STS-61 HST
Servicing Mission on Dec. 2-13.
   In August and September, the U.S. and Russia concluded a scientific
expedition to study the geology of the Kamchatka Peninsula of Eastern
Russia.  Under the auspices of the U.S.-Russia Earth Sciences Joint
Working Group, U.S. and Russian scientists, with the support of
numerous U.S. and Russian agencies, undertook a joint expedition to
provide remote-sensing imagery and field data to study the geologic
evolution of the Kamchatka volcanoes.
   Using a NASA Learjet, the joint U.S. and Russian crew flew the
first civilian research mission by a U.S. agency over Russian
territory.  Overall, the data will help scientists understand volcanic
eruptions, frequency and magnitude and the effects of these eruptions
on Earth's atmosphere.  This campaign marks an important step forward
in enhancing U.S.-Russian cooperation in environmental monitoring.
   NASA, ESA, the Russian Space Research Institute, the Italian Space
Agency, DARA, the French Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency in
May formed an International Mars Exploration Working Group to study
international strategies for the exploration of Mars after the year
2000.  Japan, Austria and the United Kingdom also are involved in this
working group.
NASA/Central America
   NASA and seven Central American nations began a program to study,
preserve and protect the region's rain forest by expanding the use of
satellite data by Central American scientists.  Under an agreement
with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development,
NASA will train and provide equipment to scientists from Belize, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.  Using
data from the Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometers flying aboard
several U.S. weather satellites, these scientists will be able to
estimate the amount and type of vegetation and forest cover in the
region and to conduct coastal studies.
                              EDUCATION
   NASA selected 100 minority high school students to participate in a
new 8-week, research-based, mentor program held at five predominantly
minority enrolled universities located near NASA Field Centers.  The
goal of SHARP PLUS Research Apprenticeship Program is to help increase
the number of minorities in the science and engineering professions by
providing students with hands-on opportunities to enhance their
college and career choices.
   The Education Division is currently reviewing proposals for a new
initiative called the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research (EPSCoR).  The program is designed to improve a state's
competitive aerospace research capacity by fostering a statewide
infrastructure that will include university faculty and students,
state government and industries.  The primary goal is to create a
stronger national science and technology base and to increase
high-tech business opportunities by broadening geographical
participation of businesses and educational institutions in
technologically sophisticated research.
   The National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program and its
more than 400 affiliates held their 3rd national conference and
implemented a new electronic reporting and information management tool
at NASA Headquarters, 3 field centers and all 52 consortia.  The first
NASA Space Academy was held at Goddard Space Flight Center for select
Space Grant fellowship and scholarship recipients nationwide.
   The Tri-State Education Initiative (TSEI), now in its 3rd year, has
established partnerships with over 20 Federal agencies, 35 private
companies and numerous state and local governments.  Through these new
partnerships, several activities have taken place this past year.  A
weeklong national demonstration using distance learning for
telemedicine, Total Quality Management and telecommunication took
place hooking together professionals and students in New York, Japan
and London.  Also, NASA and the TSEI participated in a Geography
Extravaganza with the National Geographic Society.  TSEI involves 30
school districts, 5,600 teachers and 102,000 students in a 50-mile
radius bordering the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.
   NASA's 18-wheel, 65-foot-long tractor-trailer mounted mobile
teacher resource center, Project LASER, has been completely
refurbished and given a new, more comprehensive mission.  The van's
equipment has been replaced with new state-of-the-art electronics and
classroom technology to demonstrate a computerized learning
environment of the future.  The multimedia work stations include a
video duplication center, a CD-ROM reader, and cellular modem for
direct connection with NASA's on-line computerized educational
bulletin board known as "Spacelink."  LASER will accommodate 12
teachers, an instructor and 4-6 observers.  Over the past four years,
the roving van has visited schools in 38 states, presented over 1,070
workshops and reached over 12,000 teachers.
                               - end -