NASA hurt
by lack of
finances
WASHINGTON (AP)—NASA is
finding out about the perils of private
enterprise the hard way, supporting a
space shuttle contractor who is hav
ing trouble finding customers, says
the federal agency’s inspector gener
al.
NASA’s IG is recommending that
the agency stop its financial support
of Spacchab Inc., which builds com
partments to extend living and work
ing room in the space shuttle.
Spacehab is supposed topay NASA
out of fees it receives from renting
space in its compartments. With one
exception, the only rental customer
has been NASA.
The company was hailed in the
Reagan administration as a pioneer of
private enterprise in space.
But “because commercial custom
ers have not been secured, this private
sector venture cannot succeed inde
pendent of NASA funding,” said the
report prepared by Robert Raspen,
NASA deputy assistant inspector gen
eral for auditing.
The existence of the report was
disclosed Monday by the industry
publ ication, Space News. Spacchab’s
office in Arlington, Va., and govern
ment offices were closed for Colum
bus Day and no one could be reached
for comment.
Spacchab built two compartments,
each 10 feet long and 13.5 feet in
diameter, and looked for customers
from private industry. Only one of the
Spacehabs has flown to date, in June,
and itsonly non-NASA customer was
the European Space Agency which
rented one of 50 lockers; NASA paid
Spacehab module expands shuttle
The commercially-developed module provides
additional room for experiments and equipment.
It has flown in space only once.
Flight deck
Controls for
flying shuttle
Spacehab
Hatch to
space
Mid-deck
Sleeping quarters,
kitchen, bathroom
and living area
Airlock
Spacehab tunnel
connects to outer
door of airlock
L
Source: NASA
AP
for use of the rest.
Space shuttles have limited room
for experiments in the crew compart
ment middeck. The lockers add vol
ume for microgravity experiments and
living room for astronauts.
Spacehab has a $184 million con
tract with NASA to provide the equiv
alent of 200 middeck lockers—two
thirds of the total — in six flights
through October 1996. The company
has been soliciting outside customers
for the remaining one-third capacity.
Space News said “Spacehab has
not signed up any commercial cus
tomers for two flights scheduled for
1994. It will fly the second flight half
empty — costing Spacehab millions
of dollars — if NASA docs not agree
to add more of its own experiments.”
When Spacchab sold the idea to
NASA in 1986, its announcement said
“Growing private sector demand for
middeck experiment space will pro
vide a substantial market for Spacchab
module services during the 1990s.”
But because of the lack of a com
mercial market, NASA has been
forced to accelerate payments to
Spacchab from $82 million to $96
million, while NASA has collected
only $500,000 from an expected $14
million in flight fees, Raspen’s report
said.
Spacchab disputed that, saying
NAS A originally had promised to pay
more than $96 million through 1993,
Space News said.
Earthquake hits Tokyo,
registers 7.1 on scale
TOKYO (AP) — A strong earth
quake jolted Tokyo and a wide area of
Japan early Tuesday. There were no
immediate reports of injuries or dam
age.
The quake, centered far under the
Pacific Ocean, registered a prelimi
nary 7.1 on the Richter scale, accord
ing to the Central Meteorological
Agency. The U.S. Geological Society
in Menlo Park, Calif., estimated the
magnitude at 6.6.
The quake, which struck at 12:55
a.m. (11:55 a;m. Monday EDT), shook
Tokyo and neighboring Yokohama
the strongest, but was felt as far away
as Japan’s northern island of
Hokkaido, more than 500 miles to the
north, the meteorological agency said.
The quake was centered about 270
miles southwest of Tokyo and about
250 miles below the ocean’s floor,
and therefore had relatively little ef
fect on land despite its strength, the
agency said.
It said there was no danger of tsu
nami, or quake-induced ocean waves.
The Japan BroadcastingCorp. said
there were no reports of injuries, dam
age or fires.
The Richter scale is a gauge of the
energy released by an earthquake, as
measured by the ground motion re
corded on a seismograph. Every in
crease of one number means that the
ground motion is 10 times greater.
A quake of magnitude 6 can cause
severe damage in populated areas;
one of magnitude 7 is considered a
major earthquake, capable of wide
spread, heavy damage in populated
areas.
Powerful earthquake
shakes Japan
Richter scale
The Richter scale is a gauge of the
energy released by an earthquake,
as measured by the ground motion
recorded on a seismograph.
MAGNITUDE & QUAKE DESCRIPTION
Considered a “great"
earthquake, capable of
tremendous damage in
populated areas
Considered a major
earthquake, capable
of widespread, heavy
damage in populated areas
Can cause severe
damage in populated areas
Day opens doors for gays
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter_
Members of UNL’s Gay/Lesbian/
Bisexual Student Association sat at
the Coming Out Day booth Monday
in the most popular hangout on cam
pus: the middle of the Nebraska U nion.
Some students glanced at the booth
on their way to class. Some stopped to
chat or pick up a free condom or two.
Some passers-by simply passed by.
David Bolkovac, co-chairman of
GLBSA, said the booth was an at
tempt to increase awareness in the
student community of alternate
lifestyles on campus.
A big part of Coming Out Day, he
said, is to encourage homosexual stu
dents to let others know about their
sexuality.
“They don’t need to hide any long
er,” Bolkovac said.
Unlike other minorities, he said,
gays and lesbians aren’t distinguished
easily from other students.
“We can blend in if we want,”
Bolkovac said. “We’re here, and we
can’t be ignored.”
Once students make known their
lifestyle choices, he said, they can
bond together and form a strong ho
mosexual community.
Sunday was national Coming Out
Day. At the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Monday was Coming Oul
Day, the start of Coming Out Week.
University Program Council mem
bers and GLBSA members worked
together to plan events for the week,
including Monday’s booth.
Students who stopped at the booth
were offered condoms and literature
about homosexual life and safe sex.
GLBSA members at the booth also
offered students small stickers deco
rated with pink triangles in green cir
cles. The stickers represent a “safe
place,” Bolkovac said.
The sticker serves as an indicator
to students questioning their sexuali
ty. he said. The person wearing the
sticker will be open to discussion, he
said, and will provide safety from
hostile attitudes.
The UNL Affirmative Action and
Diversity Office sent the stickers to
all university departments and asked
administrators to distribute them to
faculty and staff members.
Events at this year’s Coming Out
Week have been scaled back because
last year members were “burnt out” at
the end of the week, Bolkovac said.
Members instead focused on publi
cizing this week’s activities, he said.
A dance, “Lavender Couch," will
be at the Culture Center at 7 p.m.
Thursday._
Retreat
Continued from Page 1
ly,” had several objectives:
• to define and examine the dy
namics of a community.
• to review national demographics
and population trends.
• to explore ethnic, racial and cul
tural uniqueness, as well as shared
similarities and differences.
• to create an awareness of the
psychological stress and anxiety as
sociated with being a minority.
• to explore how perception shapes
attitude and behavior. Gricsen said*
the retreat was successful in opening
students’ eyes to different cultures
and ethnicities.
“We aim for (students) to come
away with a different understanding
of diversity relations,” he said. “We
want to get varying perceptions of
campus life to help build bridges across
tljie different groups of people on cam
Pedro Ramirez II, a member of the
Mexican-Amcrican Student Associa
tion who attended the retreat, said he
was inspired by the weekend event.
“When we left the camp, I felt
ready to go out and get some things
done,” Ramirez said. “I felt very, very
motivated.”
Ramirez said the retreat gave stu
dents a chance to get some feelings
“out in the open” by learning to attack
stereotypical barriers with straight
forward .talk.
“People found not to be scared to
ask or to say something,” he said.
Though the retreat produced many
positive results, UNL still has a long
road to diversity, Ramirez said.
“A few more eyes could still.stand
to be opened,” he said. “So often,
students fall into a comfort zone. They
live in their own separate world and
don’t want to be part of anything
different. Hopefully, we can change
all that.”
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