Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                            
March 17, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1776)

Kari Fluegel
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)

RELEASE:  94-45

SPACE STATION PROGRAM MARKS MAJOR MILESTONE 

   The International Space Station Program will cross a major 
milestone next week when program managers from NASA, the 
international partners and the contractor community meet to review 
and evaluate the design status of the orbiting laboratory.

   At the System Design Review (SDR), set for March 23 and 24 at 
the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, program managers will 
validate overall technical requirements for the space station and 
take a preliminary look at how the requirements will be 
accomplished. 

   "This is where we move from concepts to hardware 
implementation," said 
Randy Brinkley, Space Station Program Manager.  "This is by far 
the most 
important technical milestone in the program since last year's 
redesign of the 
station.  The SDR will lock in the key technical elements of the 
system as well as the schedule and cost."

   The SDR will include managers from NASA; the Canadian Space 
Agency;  the European Space Agency (ESA); the Italian Space Agency 
(Agenzia Spaziale Italiana); the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA); 
the Russian Space Agency; the prime contractor Boeing; and Tier I 
subcontractors Rocketdyne and McDonnell Douglas.

   The SDR will establish the technical baseline of the entire 
program and is an extension of the SDRprocess conducted in 
December.  The SDR documentation has been reviewed concurrently by 
program analysis and integration teams and integrated product 
teams.  NASA, the international partners, Boeing and the Tier I 
subcontractors all have participants on the teams developing the 
SDR documents.

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   The 2-day meeting is intended to be an executive summary and 
overview of the SDR process results.  Participants will review the 
operation and utilization concept, the baseline assembly sequence 
and assembly operations. For the international space station, this 
includes the specifications for the U.S. on-orbit components, U.S. 
ground components, ESA's Columbus Laboratory Module and the 
Japanese Experiment Module.  

   Participants also will look at the basic design of the 
station's core systems including electrical power; thermal 
control; life support; guidance, navigation and control; 
propulsion; command and data handling; communications and 
tracking; and extravehicular activities.  Risk and affordability 
also will be assessed.  The analysis at SDR will demonstrate the 
feasibility of the requirements and establish the physical and 
functional interfaces between system elements including software 
and hardware. 

   The overall objective of the meeting is to reach a consensus 
among program managers on the technical validity, design and 
completeness for the space station system specifications; the 
operations concept; requirements for interfaces with the Space 
Shuttle and Russian launch vehicles; and to refine cost and 
program schedules.  This is an important checkpoint for the 
program, Brinkley said. "This review gives us an opportunity to 
assess the developing design to ensure that it meets program 
objectives and requirements."

   Over the next year, the space station team will refine the 
design to more 
detailed levels and finalize it at the Critical Design Review 
currently scheduled 
for April 1995.
 
   "Since last year's redesign of the space station, NASA has made 
significant progress with the international partners and 
contractor team to provide -- on schedule and within budget -- a 
world-class, space-based research facility," Brinkley said. 

   "By using about 75 percent of the hardware planned for Space 
Station Freedom, NASA has been able to maintain its investment to 
date while redesigning the system to be less expensive and more 
capable," he said. "The international community of researchers, 
scientists and industry that comprises the International Space 
Station users will have access to an unprecedented amount of 
power, volume and crew time to conduct investigations in the 
microgravity environment of space," Brinkley concluded.
                              -end-
                                      
NOTE TO EDITORS:  Managers from NASA, the international partners 
and Boeing will meet with the press at JSC to discuss the review 
on March 24 at 
4 p.m. EST.  The press conference will be carried on NASA Select 
TV.

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NASA Select Television is carried on Spacenet 2, transponder 5, 
located at 69 degrees West longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz, audio 
6.8 MHz.  Video of the SDR in progress and animation of the 
current design will be broadcast on NASA Select immediately 
following the press conference.

Photographs of the three phases of the International Space Station 
Program are available from JSC's Still Photo Library by calling 
713/483-4231.  Animation of the station configuration also will be 
available March 23 from the Film and Video Distribution Library at 
713/486-9606.