PM Transcripts

FIRST AUSTRALIAN IN SP~ ACE
( Statement by the Acting Prime Minister,
the Rt lion. J. D. Anthony, C. H. M. P.)
Australia has accepted an United States Government offer of
a place for an Australian on the Space Shuttle.
The-first Australian in space is scheduled to be on board
the Space Shuttle which launches Australia's domestic
communications satellite in the second half of 1985.
Two Australians will be selected for special training by the
U. S. National Aeronautic and Space Administration ( NASA). They
will be payload experts, with one to be a crew member, and the
second a back-up.
The Department of Science and Technology will be responsible
for the selection of the astronauts and other arrangements, in
association with AUSSAT, the company which owns and manages the
satellite system.
Australia is one of the first countries to receive such an
invitation, and it is a tribute to the high standards which
Australia has maintained in past co-operation with the U. S. space
program. Australia will now be involved at the forefront of space
research and development, and this will provide an important
stimulus for the further development of high technology industry.
It is particularly appropriate that Australians will. be
directly involved with the launching of the Australian satellite,
and it is further evidence of the -technological advances that
flow from the government's decision to proceed with the
Australian satellite system.
For further information contact: Mr. E. R. Hlunter,
Director of Public Relations
Department of Science and Technology
( 062) 644 145
( 062) 513 657 A. H.
Canberra, 17 December, 1982