Senate OKs Funding for Space Station

NASA’s international space station received another stamp of approval--this time from the Senate, which voted to allocate $2.1 billion for the station in 1998. The House appropriated the same amount last week for the station, which supports more than 1,000 jobs in Orange County. Part of the station, which is expected to take flight in 2002, is being built at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Huntington Beach. It will be an orbiting research lab funded by 14 nations--including the U.S., Russia, Japan and Canada. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration puts the station’s total cost at $72.3 billion, with the U.S. funding a $17.4 billion.