Jim Cast

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 7, 1990

(Phone: 202/453-8536) 4 p.m. EDT

RELEASE: 90-78

ORBITAL MANEUVERING VEHICLE PROGRAM IS TERMINATED

NASA today announced the termination of its Orbital

Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) program. Citing budgetary pressures
"across the Space Flight realm" for the next several years,
together with a lack of firm, near-term requirements for such a
vehicle, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Dr.
William B. Lenoir, concluded that it is necessary to terminate
OMV which had been scheduled for a maiden flight in 1995.

"It, or something similar, eventually will be needed in our

space infrastructure," Dr. Lenoir explained, "but we will have at
least 2 or 3 years to develop firm requirements before it will be
necessary to begin development."

As originally conceived, the OMV was to have been a

reusable, remotely controlled low-Earth orbit free-flying "space
tug" capable of performing a wide range of on-orbit satellite
servicing and retrieval missions. The two existing requirements
for an OMV are supporting the reboost of the Hubble Space
Telescope and the Advanced X-Ray Astronomy Facility. According
to Dr. Lenoir, the near-term operational requirements for these
payloads can be satisfied with the baseline Shuttle capabilities.

Commending the Marshall Space Flight Center program managers

for an excellent job in pulling the OMV program together, Dr.
Lenoir stated that, "this has been a difficult decision to make,
but I feel that it is a necessary step in order to keep the
overall space flight program healthy, on firm footing and capable
of delivering on schedule and on budget."

"I have no doubt that an OMV-like capability will be

required in the future. Potential demands to support
servicing-type missions will overburden the efficient use of
Shuttle capabilities in the late 1990s. The documented
accomplishments of the OMV program to date will be incorporated
into an eventual detailed specification for the restart," Dr.
Lenoir said.

- end -

TO: MDS/PRA Group

1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME: JUNE 8, 1990

ORDERED BY: Edward Campion

NASA Headquarters/LMD
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