NASA Chief Checks Out Space Station's Progress : Technology: Project 'looks very good' so far, Daniel Goldin says after paying visit to O.C.'s McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.

NASA Chief Checks Out Space Station’s Progress : Technology: Project ‘looks very good’ so far, Daniel Goldin says after paying visit to O.C.’s McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.

By DEAN TAKAHASHI

July 6, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HUNTINGTON BEACH —

NASA’s top administrator visited McDonnell Douglas Aerospace here Tuesday for a progress report on the space station and other projects.

Daniel S. Goldin, who said he was pleased by last week’s resounding vote of confidence by the U.S. House of Representatives for the space station, gave a qualified thumbs up to McDonnell Douglas’ efforts as a primary contractor on the project.

“Douglas is coming along,” he said. “In fact, we heard (Tuesday) that they are changing the management concept on the space station, and the transition is almost complete.”

Goldin said McDonnell Douglas will create “integrated product teams” to which NASA will spell out what it wants, and the contractor will figure out how to get those things done.

Of the space station, he said, “it looks very good, but I am from the old school. When it comes out, when it gets launched, then I give all the accolades. Right now, we want to keep everybody’s feet to the fire.”

The space station, which survived a redesign in the past year to a less ambitious project, has been under attack as too expensive, with opponents saying it will cost $70 billion. Last week, the House voted 278 to 155 to fund the station for one more year. That contrasted with a one-vote margin of victory in the House last year.

Goldin said he does not expect the Senate’s space station vote, scheduled for July or August, to be an easy win. He said the prospects of getting the station built are improving, however. Contractors will actually produce 25,000 pounds of hardware for the project this year.

Goldin said no further cutbacks are expected. Last year’s redesign resulted in a reduction of McDonnell Douglas’ employment on the project from 3,000 workers to 1,500.

“We’ve eliminated jobs in government and industry, which is the right thing to do,” Goldin said. “We are not a jobs program. We are a program about the future. You can’t help future generations if you just protect jobs in the present.”

Goldin praised Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) for his support of the space station before the House vote. Rohrabacher, who invited Goldin to tour the McDonnell Douglas facility and accompanied him Tuesday, threw his support behind the station when NASA agreed to get help from the Russian space program.

Separately, Goldin complimented McDonnell Douglas for its work on the experimental DC-X rocket, which could be launched in 1996 as a reusable space rocket.

Last week, a DC-X prototype experienced an explosion during its fifth test launch. Instead of crashing, however, the rocket returned safely to the testing range.

“If this was any normal aircraft or space vehicle, it would have crashed,” Goldin said. “I don’t consider this a failure.”

Paul Klevatt, program manager for the DC-X, said investigators will release a report Friday on the cause of the explosion. He said he gave Goldin a briefing on the program.