
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991                   TAG: 9103220278
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NASA'S `NO FAT' SPACE STATION PLAN UNVEILED

NASA said Thursday it did everything Congress asked in shrinking the size and cost of its proposed space station and expects the new design to be welcomed "with open arms."

"It is absolutely critical that we get the budget that's required. There is no fat left," said William Lenoir, NASA's associate administrator for space flight.

NASA sliced $8.3 billion from the cost by cutting down on electrical power available to researchers, delaying completion to the end of the century and simplifying construction.

"We have come out with a space station we can be proud of," Lenoir said, adding that the new schedule will make it possible to stay within the Congress-imposed limit of spending no more than $2.6 billion a year.

In all, the cost target is $30 billion through 1999.

The timetable calls for the first structural parts to be carried into orbit in 1996, use of the station by visiting astronauts in 1997 and permanent occupancy by four astronauts at the turn of the century.

Lenoir said the major differences in the redesign were that the living and laboratory quarters - as well as the main truss - would be outfitted and tested on the ground rather than being built in space "a stick at a time."

That will reduce dangerous spacewalking time by astronauts by more than 50 percent, to under 300 hours a year - or about 20 such excursions by teams of two astronauts, Lenoir said.

A major criticism of the previous design was the amount of such activity required to assemble and maintain the station.

President Reagan proposed the station - to be named "Freedom" - in his 1984 State of the Union address, setting a goal of having it in orbit in 10 years. The cost was to be $8 billion.

After NASA spent nearly $4 billion for studies and prototype parts, Congress became alarmed last year and called a halt, bluntly warning that "the budget crisis is only beginning."

For the current fiscal year, Congress allowed NASA $1.9 billion for the station, $550 million less than the agency requested.

by CNB