Kennedy Space Center Astronaut Donald McMonagle has been appointed manager of space shuttle launch integration at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. He will succeed Loren Shriver, who will become deputy director for launch and payload processing. McMonagle has been manager of the Extravehicular Activity Projects Office. He will be succeeded by astronaut Gregory J. Harbaugh.
A Xerox spinoff company demonstrated its Eagle-19 high-resolution digital color display at the Paris air show. Built by dpiX, which was started in March, 1996, as a Xerox New Enterprise company, the Eagle 19 provides 24-bit color and was designed as a replacement for 17-21-in. cathode ray tube (CRT) display monitors now operating in Joint-STARS, AWACS and E-2C airborne radar control aircraft. Contracts have not been let yet. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company also is developing the Eagle-5, a 5-in.
Photograph: Tests in 16-ft. transonic wind tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center revealed problems in controlling pitch. Current solution would add canards, but they would have to be deployable and retractable. PEGGY HOPKINS/NASA A year after it began, a NASA/industry effort to develop a reusable space launch vehicle is not meeting its weight, cost and schedule objectives. As a result, the critical design review and the first flight for a technology demonstrator, the X-33, have been delayed.
HUGHES TRAINING HAS WON a $12.6-million contract from the U.S. Navy to upgrade simulators and other training equipment for the V-22 Osprey program. The upgrades are scheduled to be completed by June, 1999, according to Hughes officials. The Arlington, Tex.-based company also was awarded a $28-million contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide training systems support through 2002 for F-15s sold to Saudi Arabia.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. has begun full production of its low-Earth orbit Orbcomm constellation. The satellite system is designed to provide two-way data communications worldwide. Two satellites were orbited in 1995 for testing. Orbital is now building 34 spacecraft at its Germantown, Md., plant (pictured) to complete the constellation. The company hopes to launch 16 of those satellites on Pegasus boosters before the end of the year. The weight of the newer spacecraft has been lowered by more than 10% through the use of new materials and components.
Last week's Mir docking accident had House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., (R.-Wis.) demanding compliance with a recently passed House bill that would require NASA to certify that the space station meets U.S. safety standards. He wants an independent review before more American astronauts are sent on extended visits. NASA had previously agreed to accept Russian safety standards for Mir visits. NASA's Daniel S. Goldin offered to send him previous outside safety reviews, but the lawmaker said nyet!
Photograph: Northwest Airlines signaled its intention to order 50 Airbus A319 transports, configured to seat 125 passengers. Northwest currently operates 50 A320s and has 20 more of the 150-seat A320s (shown) on order. Airbus, Boeing and Ilyushin reported a total of $5.8 billion in new transport orders and commitments during the Paris air show here earlier this month, underscoring the continued economic viability of the world airline industry.
Photograph: SkyWest and two other U.S. EMB-120 operators checked their fleets and found no other instances of drain plugs missing from the aircraft's engines. The NTSB is calling for the immediate inspection of more than 1,700 Pratt&Whitney Canada PW100-series turboprop engines in the wake of a fire in one that severely damaged a SkyWest Airlines Embraer EMB-120ER last month. The National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA in a June 13 letter to order the one-time inspections by U.S. operators.
David L. Patterson has become president of the integrated supply chain solutions business unit of BDM, McLean, Va. He was U.S. practice leader for plant operations systems for KPMG Peat Marwick.
Photograph: Airbus Industrie will deliver 185 transports this year, up from 126 in 1996. Aerospatiale's A320 final assembly line is seen here. The engine in the foreground is a CFMI CFM56. The French government is considering ways to reconcile the left-wing coalition's state ownership rules with the urgent need to consolidate the European aerospace/defense industry.
Dr. Arnauld E. Nicogossian has become associate administrator for NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Science and Applications in Washington. He had been acting associate administrator.
Hong Kong's business community has been adjusting to this week's transfer of power from British to Chinese rule since the two countries agreed on a plan in 1984. For some in Taiwan, the adjustment appears to have been more recent.
A Boeing exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) sensor acquired a cluster of target objects launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in the first flight test of a candidate infrared sensor designed for possible use with the National Missile Defense (NMD) program. The targets were silo-launched on a three-stage Minuteman 2 missile at 8:39 p.m. PDT June 23 from Vandenberg. The Multi-Service Launch System (MSLS), developed by Lockheed Martin, carried nine targets built by Sandia National Laboratories, including an unarmed reentry vehicle and various decoys.
Photograph: The USAF is planning a follow-on B-2 flight test program, and will retain one operational bomber at Edwards AFB, Calif. The original eight-year test effort ends June 30. A planned follow-on program will extend B-2 bomber flight testing beyond the originally scheduled completion date of June 30, and require retaining one test aircraft here. Air Vehicle No. 3 (AV-3) will be kept at Edwards AFB to support software updates and new weapon integration tests, according to B-2 officials.
Jose Paulo Albuquerque has been appointed director of international regulatory affairs and Suzanne Hutchings regulatory counsel for the Teledisc Corp., Kirkland, Wash.
Initial flight testing of a towed electronic countermeasures (ECM) decoy system on a B-1B, to improve survivability of that aircraft, has been completed at Edwards AFB, Calif. The test aircraft has been deployed to Robins AFB, Ga., for interoperability development testing on the Eglin AFB, Fla., test range through early July, prior to the start of operational test and evaluation.
Emirates, the international airline of the United Arab Emirates, expects to begin service later this year to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. The destination will be its fourth in Africa. The carrier has two more Boeing 777s scheduled for delivery this year--for its full complement of seven--but plans to use the aircraft generally to increase frequencies to existing destinations, rather than expand its route system. Emirates has options for seven more 777s and was briefed recently by Boeing on its plans for the -200X and -300X.
Pat Coulter has been named vice president-communications for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group of Seattle. He was vice president-corporate communications of Bell Atlantic.
Illustration: Diagram: Two pairs of adaptive internal ``tendons'' would swivel the smoothbore munition's nose to provide maneuvering capability. The guided shells also can compensate for windage. Promising initial test results of a new, barrel-launched adaptive structure munition could lead to longer-range and highly lethal gun systems. If successfully developed, the technology could upend conventional gunnery practices and force significant tactical changes.
Brazil's Varig is upgrading its computer and communications capabilities, a move that the airline says could help increase annual profits to $300 million. Airline officials plan to sign 10-year contracts totaling $450 million with IBM and SITA for computer systems and communications network upgrades. Varig also is buying reservations, yield management and planning software from United Airlines in the U.S. and Lufthansa German Airlines.
Air Madeira, a new charter airline based in Lisbon, has acquired a Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar previously owned by potential competitor TAP-Air Portugal. The aircraft was purchased from Fortis Aviation, which has remarketed three L-1011s for TAP. The other two went to Air Transat of Canada. Air Madeira will operate its L-1011 on charter flights to and from Canada. It intends to tap into a substantial two-way passenger market because of a large population of Portuguese living in Canada.
House committee leaders had a battle plan ready last week when their colleagues, as expected, defeated an attempt to revoke President Clinton's continuation of normal trade with China (AW&ST May 26, p. 23). The plan is a package of 12 bills, intended as ``a comprehensive U.S. policy toward Communist China.'' They would cut U.S. subsidies to Beijing from international lending institutions, deny low tariffs on U.S. imports produced by industries tied to China's army and strengthen the ban on imports produced by slave labor.
Andrew G.C. Sage, 2nd, senior partner of Sage Capital Corp. and chairman of Robertson Ceco Corp., and Vice Adm. Albert J. Baciocco, Jr. (USN, Ret.), founder of the Baciocco Group Inc., have been appointed to the board of directors of the American Superconductor Corp., Westborough, Mass.
Heidi M. Schonauer has been promoted to product manager for process chemicals from marketing manager for surfactants of Olin Microelectronic Materials, Norwalk, Conn.
