spacetoday.net: News briefs: September 13

Posted: Fri, Sep 14, 2001, 12:39 AM ET (0439 GMT)
NASA administrator Dan Goldin addressed employees on Thursday in an effort to boost morale after the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington earlier this week. Goldin told employees that the tight security measures implemented in the wake of the bombings — which created long delays at the gates of some NASA centers Thursday morning — would remain in place for the foreseeable future... NASA officials also pushed back the launch of an Athena rocket on Thursday, the second such delay in as many days. The launch of the Athena from Kodiak, Alaska, was originally scheduled for September 17 but delayed first to the 19th, then rescheduled again Thursday to no sooner than the 21st. Transportation difficulties created by the ban on commercial air travel that was in place from Tuesday until midday Thursday were blamed for the delay... Boeing officials confirmed that three employees of its space and communications division were on the American Airlines jet that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon Tuesday. The three were originally bound for southern California, the headquarters of Boeing's space and communications division, from Washington's Dulles International Airport... The Space Foundation has extended the deadline for "early bird" registrations for the International Space Symposium by one week, to September 21, citing recent events. The symposium is scheduled for October 29-31 in Washington, DC.