Slide 27 of 99
Notes:
In order to increase the Space Station's and Space Shuttle's appeal, NASA tried to involve as many users as possible. Hence the Space Station program would also include a large unmanned platform for Earth observation. NASA claimed this Polar Platform would utilize many of the same systems as the Station and be serviced by the Space Shuttle, although it would reside in a different (polar-) orbit than the main Station complex. The Polar Platform was finally
transferred to the "Mission to Planet Earth" remote sensing program in late 1990 when the Space Station's budget again was reduced. Another man-tended platform would have co-orbited with the main Station complex, but it too was cancelled in 1987. In fact, the role of cheap unmanned platforms versus a large permanently manned base was hotly debated in Congress throughout the 1980s. Powerful House and Senate leaders such as Edward Boland, William Proxmire and William Green wanted a less expensive, semipermanently manned “build it by the yard” platform that would be launched sooner. NASA, however, had institutional reasons for doing a large international Space Station since it provided more work and funding for its space centers and the Space Shuttle program.