1985: spacing out.THE space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. program was flying satellites into orbit, but aerospace contractors were waiting for the next big NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. program: the space station. "Aerospace companies are jockeying feverishly to gain position before the giant hardware contracts are awarded for NASA's Space Station, which is expected to cost $10 billion to $12 billion and could bring thousands of jobs here," the Business Journal reported on Aug. 12, 1985. All the major players of the day were going through the selection process that had begun the year before with 21-month "study contracts." Behind the scenes, there was an "intense hustle" for the contracts. Some companies that didn't make the semifinals were hoping to sign on as partners or subcontractors with their competitors. And vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. : contractors who were still in the running were courting their eliminated competitors. By the time the International Space Station was sent aloft in 1998, both the project and the aerospace business had changed. Boeing, which bought Rockwell International Rockwell International was the ultimate incarnation of a series of companies under the sphere of influence of Willard Rockwell, who had made his fortune after the invention and successful launch of a new bearing system for truck axles in 1919. Corp.'s space and aviation business in 1996 and merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, became the prime contractor on the space station. Rocketdyne, a former Rockwell division, built the space station's power system, and Allied Signal in Torrance built gyroscopes and other navigational gear. The space station's Expedition 9 is currently under way, with Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke conducting microgravity mi·cro·grav·i·ty n. 1. An environment in which there is very little net gravitational force, as of a free-falling object, an orbit, or interstellar space. 2. experiments in the fields of life sciences, physics and chemistry. It was launched from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in April and scheduled to return in October. The shuttle program, which was suspended last year after Columbia broke up during re-entry RE-ENTRY, estates. The resuming or retaking possession of land which the party lately had. 2. Ground rent deeds and leases frequently contain a clause authorizing the landlord to reenter on the non-payment of rent, or the breach of some covenant, when the , is scheduled to begin flying space station missions again next year. |
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