NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Higher Hubble Bid Offered Mirror Test

An unsuccessful Eastman Kodak Co. bid to make the Hubble Space Telescope mirrors called for a second company to double-check the grinding and polishing, a provision not offered by low bidder Perkin-Elmer Corp., the firm that produced the flawed mirror. Kodak’s $99.79-million bid called for the company to make one primary mirror and for Itek Optical Systems to make an identical mirror at another plant. Kodak said that the different testing systems could be used to verify the prescription. Perkin-Elmer’s winning bid was $64.28 million. The contract climbed to an eventual total of $451 million. NASA made the bid documents available in response to a Freedom of Information petition.