Former astronaut and retiring U.S. Senator John Glenn may fly as a payload specialist on a shuttle mission late this year, the weekly news magazine Newsweek reported this week.
     The magazine cited anonymous sources who claimed a decision was near to let Glenn fly on the shuttle Discovery this October on mission STS-95. Glenn would fly on the mission as part of a National Institutes of Health study to test the effects of weightlessness on the aging process.
     A decision, if any, would lie solely in the hands of NASA administrator Dan Goldin, said a White House source in the January 14 issue of the Washington Post. A spokesperson for Goldin said there was "no deadline" for that decision, according to the Post.
     However, Glenn would require at least several months of training before flying any mission, which implies that a decision about flying on October's STS-95 mission would have to come in the near future. There was no word whether Glenn would resign from the Senate should he be selected on fly on STS-95. The long-time senator announced last year he would not run for reelection in 1998.
     Although Glenn has been quiet on the subject of flying in space again in recent weeks, he had been very outspoken on the topic last year and earlier. Last July on the NBC news program "Meet the Press" Glenn said he was interested in flying on a shuttle mission. "There is very good scientific reason for putting somebody back up there again," Glenn said. "And, obviously, I'd be interested in being that somebody if they decide to do this."
     At that time, Goldin said NASA was evaluating Glenn's request. "He has a burning desire to go back into space," Goldin said of Glenn on the same program, "and we're giving it very serious consideration, and we'll see where this goes."
     Some people with NASA have quietly criticized the thought of flying Glenn into orbit, claiming the decision is based more on politics than on scientific research. Glenn, a Democrat, supported President Clinton in last summer's Congressional hearings on alleged fundraising abuse by Clinton during his 1996 reelection campaign.

[As this issue was going to press, CNN reported that John Glenn will fly on the STS-95 mission, with an official announcement expected Friday, Janary 16. Look for updated information on the SpaceViews Web site and in the next issue of SpaceViews.]

The director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has been named as the new director of NASA's Office of Space Flight, while his lieutenant has been named as the new director of Goddard.
     NASA named Joseph H. Rothenberg as the new Associate Administrator in charge of the Office of Space Flight on January 8. "He brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective as NASA's human space flight enterprise enters a new era with the construction of the International Space Station," NASA administrator Dan Goldin said in a statement.
     Rothenberg came to NASA Goddard in 1983 as operations manager of the Hubble Space Telescope project, after spending 19 years with Grumman Aerospace. Rothenberg advanced through the ranks at Goddard, becoming Associate Director in charge of Hubble in 1990 and director in 1994.
     Rothenberg replaces Wilbur C. Trafton, who announced his resignation from the position in November. Trafton, who served in the position for over 18 months, had come under some heat in Congressional hearings for cost overruns on the International Space Station, but all involved claimed there was no link between Trafton's resignation and the problems with ISS.
     Replacing Rothenberg as director of Goddard is Alphonso V. ("Al") Diaz, who had been the deputy director of the space center. Diaz has been with NASA since joining the Langley Research Center in 1964 as a co-op student. Diaz moved from NASA Headquarters to Goddard in 1996.

Several professional organizations representing scientists urged their members to lobby for increased science funding, including space science, as the Clinton administration finishes its draft of the fiscal year 1999 budget.
     Separate but similar mailings by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Physical Society (APS), and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) urged their members to write to key officials within the Clinton administration, urging them to support increased funding for the sciences.
     The administration had planned "only minimal increases for research" according to a January 8 mailing by AAS president Andrea Dupree and senior associate Peter Boyce, "but the large response from chemists and physicists has begun to change some opinions at the White House."
     At the same time, reports indicate any budget cuts in NASA's 1998 budget will be far less severe than once thought. While cuts of up to $1 billion from NASA's $13.6 appropriation for FY 1998, were considered, NASA Watch reports cuts may only be on the order of $200 million.
     The American Institute of Physics' FYI newsletter also reported Tuesday, January 13 that cuts on the order of $200-300 million, but no higher, could be expected from NASA's budget. The newsletter, citing a report in Congressional Quarterly, explained the change on a letter signed in the late fall, organized by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL), by 200 members of the House, requesting an increase, not cut, in NASA's budget.
     Clinton's proposed 1999 budget is expected to be released in early February.