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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
TOPEKA; KS. 6612
VOL.101,No.126
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1991
ADVERTISING:864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Astronauts fix observatory antenna
Mission is the first unscheduled emergency repair made in space
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A shuttle astronaut took a walk outside, shook a balky antenna and freed it yesterday in the first unscheduled emergency repair ever made in space.
'it's free, it's free, I can see it move, it's free!' shouted Jerry Ross as the antenna swung out from a giant scientific observatory.
"Far out, good work," said Jay Ant, his fellow space, walker
It was the first time in more than five years that any U.S. citizens have taken a space walk. Ross and Sherwon Spring last made that venture
from the shuttle Atlantis on Dec. 1, 1985.
The repair job made it possible to release the $617 million Gamma Ray Observatory into orbit at 6:37 p.m. EDT. $40 hours late, from Atlantas for the release was not critical to the mission, but when a planetary probe is involved.
The observatory will record the high-energy radiations coming from some of the most violent processes in the universe for the next two years and perhaps longer. Gamma rays do not penetrate the Earth, and cannot be detected on Earth.
Their time in open space was about
3 $ _{1/2} $ hours.
The repair had been estimated to last more than an hour. Instead, the astronauts had been in open space for only 17 minutes when Ross worked on a satellite.
It was then that the EVA - space jargon for a space walk - was ordered
The antenna, one of three on the observatory, is used to transmit high volumes of data at extremely high rates of speed to Earth.
After Ross freed the boom, it swung outward about 5 feet. The
The antenna, at the end of a 16" foot boom, had refused to swing outward from the position in which it had been stowed for the ride into space. Mission Control made six signals with electronic signals but failed.
astronauts then loosened a few bolts on the boom hinge, and it moved into its proper position.
Yesterday's problem proved to be exactly what Mission Control thought it was. The locking pin had retracted fully as telemetry showed. The antenna boom needed only a little shake to work it loose.
All this time, the 35,000-pound observatory was held high over the cargo bay at the end of the ship's 50-foot mechanical arm.
Release of the observatory was the main focus of the five-day mission. Atlantis' five astronauts have been in space since arriving in spaceships last Friday.
The astronauts will return to Earth on Wednesday. They are scheduled to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:35 a.m. EDT.
Observatory may give clues to life, universe
The Associated Press
SPACE CENTER, Houston — NASA's Gamma Ray Observatory was designed to scan the cosmos for high-voltage radiation that may prove the existence of black holes and provide clues about creation itself.
"Gamma rays are really an unexplored territory." NASA program scientist Alan Burner said. "They are perhaps the least understood (radiation) and the hardest to study."
Gamma rays, the most energetic form of radiation known, come from the hottest, most violent objects in the universe such as
quasars, pulsars and supernova remnants.
Gamma radiation cannot be studied from the ground because it is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere.
From 280 miles high, the Gamma Ray Observatory, or GRO, will be free to observe gamma rays. The observatory is the largest and most sensitive gamma ray spacecraft ever built.
Further study of gamma rays may yield enough information to determine the nature of black holes, thought to be collapsed remnants of dead stars.
Fans line street and applaud the'Hawks
Local parade honors team
By Jonathan Plummer Kansas staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Michael Gaddis, 11, proudly showed the autographs he collected Saturday morning.
"I got Maddox and Woodberry, and I got a high-five from Maddox," he said. "I got Rockall's high-five, but I didn't get his autograph."
Gaddis was one of the children who lined Massachusetts Street on Saturday morning for a parade in honor of the Kansas men's basketball team.
Although there were KU students along the parade route, Saturday's tribute seemed to be attended mostly by younger students.
Gaddis, who came from Topeka with his parents and his older brother, said he did not sleep well the night before.
"Yeah, well, I'm a Jayhawk fan," he said, regaining his cool.
"We left at 8 in the morning, and we got up here at about 9, but I got up about 3," he said, the pitch of his voice rising.
The players slowly rode down the street waving to the crowd from the tops of the back seats of vintage convertibles. Bands, cheerleaders and Mayor Shirley Martin-Smith also participated in the parade.
David Johanning looked to the tops of buildings along Massachusetts Street as fans who stood on the roofs and homemade ticker-tape off the sides.
Coach Roy Williams rode in a car with his wife and two children. While other parade participants responded to the events, Williams used words of thanks.
Enthusiastic Jayhawk fans vie for KU forward Mark Randall's autograph during a downtown parade Saturday honoring this year's men's basketball team.
Obviously enjoying himself, Williams joked with the crowd and slapped the hand of a fan as the car he was in turned the corner.
Other players grinned as their cars inched down the street. Mark Randall awarded a kiss to a woman who gave him a tulip, and Adonis Jordan laughed as he caught a roll of toilet paper tossed to him from the crowd.
When Mike Maddox came down the road on the back of a Corvette, 9-year-old Orion Kinka inched out into the street.
"All right," he said, "my favorite guv, he's coming up."
As a clown came by giving away balloons, both Orion and his brother
out their hands out to get one.
pat him hand out to get one.
"I'm giving mine to Adonis," Orion said, looking down the street for the next car.
Evan Keller, 9, said that he and his friends watched a lot of the games and loved the team but did not think the team would do as well as it did in
the NCAA tournament.
Evan said that he thought about getting the autographs of the players but that he forgot to bring a piece of paper.
"But I am glad they did because all the announcers said we weren't going to win." he said
Instead, he and his friend Bryan Hickey, 11, watched Jessica Corkill, 9, and Erin Hincky, 8, shake the wing of the Baby Jay mascot. They also waved to friends from their school who were in the parade.
When the parade was finished, Tyler Hartpence, 4, and his grandmother Pat Laws stopped to rest on a park bench.
Tyler was decked out in Jayhawks regalia, wearing a large Jayhawk baseball cap, buckled as tightly as
"Tyler went to the stadium to see the team," Laws said. "He's quite a KU fan."
possible in the back, and a Final Four T-shirt, which was given to him by the Easter Bunny.
"The tyler got to wave to his favorite player, Mark Randall," Laws said as Tyler nodded in agreement. "He got to walk out of the house. We like to come out to a parade."
KU plans ROTC protest day University to join in nationwide protest of ROTC's policies
Kansan staff writer
Plans have been made for KU's participation in Wednesday's nationally coordinated day against discernibility and university ROTC programs.
The Department of Defense policies in ROTC programs discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and detriment KU's anti-discrimination policy.
Interim executive vice chancellor
The coordinated day of action was requested by officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Last week, University Council passed a law that requires all counselors' Committee on Discrimination in the TOC to be used for the event.
At the recommendation of Frances Ingemann, Senate Executive Committee chairperson, the committee decided to send a letter to Kansas' congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., the organizations of higher
By Eric Nelson
The committee met Friday and made plans for KU's involvement.
'I think the chancellor really feels this is not something he should endorse or not endorse.'
The resolution will be forwarded to Chancellor Gene A. Budig but not for his endorsement.
Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, said, "I think the chancellor really feels this is not something he should endorse or not
Donald McCoy, distinguished professor of history, also suggested that a letter be sent to the Speaker of the House and the President of the
education that KU officials met with during their Washington trip in March, the Department of Defense and President Bush.
The letter also will be sent to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to notify them of KU's participation.
At a past meeting of SenEx, there was some concern that other events planned for Wednesday, including Student Senate elections and a lection committee commemorating KU's 125th anniversary would make it difficult to participate.
The committee made no other plans for the day of action.
Ingemann said, "I think we're probably too late to do something now."
But the committee intends to use media coverage for publicity.
Siegfried Lindenbaum, chairperson of the committee, said he would contact University Relations and ask for its help with publicity.
Georgia threatens to join strike unless Soviets withdraw troops
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The president of Georgia threatened yesterday to call a general strike in his southern republic unless Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev all troops from the disputed region of South Osetia
The republic's leader warned that Georgians would adopt demands of the country's striking coal miners,
In addition to calling for Gorbachev's resignation, the miners want the dissolution of the national Congress of People's Deputies and greater autonomy for the 15 Soviet republics.
The Georgian leader, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, sent a telegram to Gorbachev, threatening that Georgians would join striking Soviets unless the central government withdrew its troops.
A copy of the telegram was provided to the Associated Press by a Georgian government represent-
The number of Soviet soldiers and Interior Ministry troops in Georgia is not known, but it is thought to be in the thousands. Gamsakhurdia did not set a deadline for withdrawal.
Coal miners have remained on strike despite pay raises and other economic concessions offered by the Soviet government last week. As of yesterday, 184 of the country's 600 mines were idle, and 11 were mining owned by Sergel Schvets, a reporter for Postisia, a union newspaper in the Donetsk coal region of the Ukraine.
Lack of coal already has forced some steel plants to shut down. It is also cutting into production at many steel mills.
Nearly 99 percent of Georgian voters cast their ballots in favor of independence from the Soviet Union and the rise of a predominant ethnic minority in South Ossetia, a predominantly Muslim country of the republic, wants to remain in the union.
The rivalry between Georgians and Ossetians dates back more than 200 years. It is rooted in conflicting claims to land, as well as religious differences. Most Georgians are Christian.
Hours after the March 31 referendum, the Soviet legislature authorized a state of emergency and called for deployment of Soviet troops to hail bloodied in Kosovo. More than 50 have died there in ethnic feuding.