Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 3

-1 Page4A NATION jatatesmar In Brief auncl sful night 1 MBKBS S6JCCGS Shuttles' schedule shows it's no longer all-purpose vehicle A iK 'MSI 3r 'if? 3 Tim Ifrf Gannett News Service KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. A search of the invisible universe begins today as a crew of seven astronauts turns shuttle Columbia into an orbiting astronomical observatory. The shuttle's long-delayed astronomy mission got off to an earthshaking start at 10:49 p.m. PST Saturday as Columbia leaped off the launch pad and streaked across a pitch-black sky. The 100-ton space ship lifted off through scattered clouds on its 8-and-a-half-minute climb into orbit.

Air Force range safety requirements prevented NASA from launching Columbia on schedule. The countdown was held for 21 minutes until an Air Force helicopter could establish a clear view of the shuttle from the ground to 8,000 feet. "Fifth time is a charm," Michael Braukus of NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. said. The star-crossed mission originally set for launch in 1986 but indefinitely postponed by the Challenger accident had been canceled four times since May because of shuttle fuel leaks and an electrical problem with Columbia's cargo.

Getting the $150 million Astro-1 astronomical observatory off the ground after seven months of disappointing delays rejuvenated NASA officials. "Flying Astro signifies for us that the long summer of hydrogen fuel leaks is over," Robert Sieck, the shuttle launch director, said. "It has special mean-mg. The astronauts today will be activating the Astro-1 observatory, which consists of four sophisticated ultraviolet and X-ray telescopes. During the mission, the astronauts and ground controllers will target more than 250 celestial objects for observation, including a variety of exploding stars, colliding galaxies, quasars, pulsars and black holes.

"We'll be looking at radiation from the most violent events in the universe," Lennard Fisk, the NASA space science chief, said. This type of radiation is invisible to earthbound telescopes because the energy cannot penetrate our atmosphere. Columbia's crew includes commander Vance it started out to be: an all-purpose, do-everything, truck line into space. Until NASA finally settles on what role its manned fleet will play in building and maintaining a space station if there is one the shuttle will be used for scientific missions and launching communications and science satellites. The shuttle Columbia was scheduled to blast off early today with a $150 million Astro observatory.

The military had commandeered the shuttle for seven of its 37 previous flights, each time going to great lengths to keep its purpose secret. For the first one, in January 1985, the Air Force invoked Draconian measures but reporters learned many details anyway. On subsequent flights, the military resorted to withholding normally public countdown commentary until the last nine minutes of the 43-hour process, when launch pad activities can no longer be hidden. Shuttle-to-ground conversations were encrypted to hide them from eavesdroppers. Even notification of landing time was withheld until 24 hours before it took place.

The Associated Press WASHINGTON The nation's space agency will issue a flight schedule in the next 10 days that, for the first time in the shuttle era, won't list any secret military missions. The Air Force got a final divorce from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in November when the military used the shuttle for its last classified mission. Before that flight, it was widely reported that astronauts would launch a satellite to spy on Iraq precisely the kind of information the military doesn't like bandied about. Now, such secret cargoes will be hoisted into space by rockets whose preparation for flight isn't done in full view of busloads of sightseers. The Pentagon has booked shuttle space on three more flights, two in 1991 and one in 1992, but the cargo won't be classified.

For NASA, it means yet another change in the shuttle's mission. First, passengers were banned, then commercial cargo prohibited and now the spy satellite business is going elsewhere. The shuttle no longer is what The Associated Press A seven man crew is scheduled to lift off in the space shuttle Columbia at 10:28 p.m. PST Saturday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Brand, pilot Guy Gardner, mission specialists John Lounge, Robert Parker and Jeffrey Hoffman and payload specialists Ronald Parise and Samuel Dur-rance.

The first seven-member crew since the Challenger disaster began boarding their winged spaceship about 7:40 p.m. PST, a little more than three hours after technicians finished pumping 528,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the shuttle's 15-story external fuel tank. During their stay in space, the astronauts also plan to beam down an astronomy lesson to about 40 eighth- and ninth-graders gathered at NASA centers in Alabama and Maryland. Columbia and its crew are scheduled to land about 11:30 p.m. PST Dec.

11 at Edwards Air Force Base in California Band's special effects hurts 24 in Florida PUNTA GORDA, Fla. A special effects "flash pot" used by a rock band to provide a quick burst of light injured 24 people, one critically, when it exploded Saturday on a hotel dance floor, authorities said. The band In and Out was using the electronically detonated device for pyrotechnical effects during a show at a Holiday Inn. "People said it sounded like a cannon going off a loud bang, then shrapnel started flying," police detective Gary Depaulo said. Seven people were admitted to hospitals, including a man listed in critical condition after surgery for leg injuries.

Three of the injured were reported in serious condition. Drive-by shooting hurts 12 in California INDUSTRY, Calif. Gunfire sprayed from a passing car wounded 12 people, including six children, on the street outside a family gathering, authorities said Saturday. An 18-month-old boy was shot in the face in the Friday night attack and may lose an eye. A 26-year-old woman was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the stomach, Deputy Roger Horn of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department said.

The victims were at an outdoor family gathering in unincorporated Valinda when the vehicle pulled up in front of the house Friday night, Horn said. Horn said the shooting appeared to be gang-related. Former Noriega banker gets lenient sentence TAMPA, Fla. Heeding an appeal for leniency, a federal judge sentenced Manuel Noriega's former banker to 12 years in prison for helping launder $14 million in cocaine profits. Amjad Awan, the former head marketing officer for the Bank of Credit and Commerce International's Latin American and Caribbean division, was one of five people sentenced to prison Friday in the government sting.

Awan, who was also fined $100,000, could have been sentenced to 19V2 years, but U.S. District Judge W. Terrell Hodges said he was lenient because Awan did not profit from the scheme. Awan had no previous criminal record and showed remorse. Lawyers say police violated inmate's rights SAN FRANCISCO A former cellmate who testified against death-row inmate Robert Alton Harris says in a sworn statement that authorities asked him to question Harris and to deny the arrangement in court.

Harris' lawyers, seeking to overturn his conviction and death sen 20BB1H Foreign investment considered Weak U.S. airlines face scant competition The Washington Post Facing the prospect of an airline industry dominated by a few powerful firms, Bush administration officials are considering whether a dose of foreign investment might be needed to prop up the industry's weakest carriers. Battered by higher fuel prices and weak demand, the number of major U.S. airlines could be re irloti iday For senior citizens and disabled persons. Please join us for our annual Holiday Shopping Event free from the usual crowds and hassles.

Tuesday, December 4, 8:30 to 11 am Please note: Our stores will be closed to the general public during these hours. Stores reopen to the public at 11 am. Senior citizens age 62 and older; disabled persons, and accompanying family members welcome We'll have extra people on hand to assist you with your shopping Free gift wrapping plus 10 discount on your purchases during these hours Fun and festivities -refreshments, entertainment, surprises and even a visit from Jolly of St. Nick Participating stores: duced by almost half over the next few years, according to industry officials and analysts. Some of the oldest names in U.S.

aviation Eastern Air Lines, Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines are in serious financial trouble, and their futures are in question. Other airlines, including Continental, Midway and America West, are finding themselves on increasingly shaky ground. New carriers are not likely to emerge to challenge the lock on the industry by the remaining giants, most industry experts agree. With so many carriers on the endangered list, legislators and regulators increasingly are worried about the consequences. When the airlines were deregulated almost twelve years ago, it produced a rough-and-tumble industry characterized by intense competition between carriers for the dollars of travelers.

But that era is drawing to a fast close and could produce a jolt of higher fares after a decade of discounting, analysts believe. The prospect has forced the administration to look toward foreign airlines as a potential way to rescue weak U.S. airlines and preserve competition. Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner "has come to the conclusion at least tentatively that a hard look at our foreign-ownership rules should be part of any effort to improve the prospects for maintaining a healthy and competitive U.S. airline industry in these uniquely difficult times," according to Jeffrey N.

Shane, assistant transportation secretary. Currently, foreign investors are prohibited from buying more than 25 percent of the stock of a U.S. airline or from having what in effect would amount to control over any U.S. carrier. That law has prevented the prospect of weak carriers here from being merged with stronger airlines abroad.

The fading prospects for competition in the United States has produced a chorus of voices calling for a new look at those restrictions. Alfred Kahn, the former chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board who is often referred to as the father of airline deregulation, believes that loosening the restrictions of foreign carriers may be the key to preserving competition. Allowing carriers from abroad to compete more freely in the United States also could help to keep fares lower, he said. tence for the 1978 slayings of two teen-agers, submitted the statement Friday to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Harris' case has drawn wide attention because he could become the first person executed by the state of California since 1967. In the statement, Joseph Ab-shire said authorities had asked him to question Harris about his crimes, then told him to deny any such arrangement when he testified about Harris' confession. Abshire's statement indicates that he was acting as a police agent in violation of Harris' constitutional right to have a lawyer present during police interrogation, the defense contended in court papers. Court OKs station sales of struck N.Y. paper NEW YORK A temporary court order allows hawkers to sell the strikebound Daily News in train stations, overruling transit officials' fears that pickets will follow the hawkers.

Leaders of the nine striking unions said they might set up picket lines in the subways and elsewhere in protest. Leaders of unions representing transit workers and teamsters promised to honor the lines. Checks' safety advice irks Delaware workers DOVER, Del. Delaware officials were red-faced after state workers complained about a message on their pay stubs that said "Save your ugly face. Buckle up and don't drink and drive." The Office of Highway Safety message that offended several employees slipped onto their paychecks accidentally, Michael F.

Gunning, the acting director of the office, said. It was one of many messages submitted to the treasurer's office from state agencies to be printed on checks, but was not cleared through the Department of Public Safety or the governor's office, Frank A. Newton, the deputy state treasurer, said. From wire reports Salem Center Street N.E. and Lancaster Drive N.E., in Evergreen Plaza.