William Atkins
Thursday, 22 January 2009 20:23
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 4
NASA Administrator James M. Beggs, then head of the U.S. space agency stated that the space station is the
“next logical step” in space. [Time (August 8, 1983): “
A Logical Step for Mankind”]
NASA developed concepts and plans to use the space station as an “orbiting repair shop” for satellites, as an observation facility for astronomers, as a microgravity laboratory for scientists, as an assembly center for spacecraft, and as a manufacturing facility for microgravity products in the private sector.
A design history for Space Station Freedom is found on the
Astronautix website.
The Astronautix website states,
“The Space Station Freedom project finally collapsed under its own weight in 1990, when the design was found to be 23% overweight, over budget, too complicated to assemble while providing 34% too little power for its users.”
It added,
“A NASA panel led by Bill Fisher and Charles Price then discovered that 2,282-3,276 hours of EVA 'spacewalks' would be required per year vs. NASA's goal of 500 EVA hours/year...”
And,
“Congress consequently demanded yet another redesign in October 1990 while requesting further cost reductions as the Fiscal 1991 budget was cut from $2.5 billion to $1.9 billion; the overall budget cut would be $6 billion over five years. NASA unveiled its new Space Station design in March 1991.”
“The resulting new configuration was mockingly referred to as 'Space Station Fred' by the critics.” [This is a “shortened-word-of-Freedom” reference to it being only a fraction of the size and capability of the original ‘Space Station Freedom’.]
Page three continues....
