The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 6

A-6 Wednesday, January 29, 1986 THE COURIER-NEWS' I THE TRAGIC FLIGHT OF CHALLENGER: NASA tries to unravel mystery F2W D(LQS Debris but no bodies recovered in ocean Cpcco chuttfo ojxplcd 10.35 mllzt high 8.C5 mites downrensa from bunching pad i Continued from Page A-l MIAMI (AP) Several "small chunks" of the space shuttle Challenger were recovered in the At- THE LAST SECONDS I I survived," Moore, NASA associate administrator, told a midafternoon news conference. Col. John Shults, director of Defense Department contingency operations here, said a search armada of helicopters, ships and planes had spotted several pieces of debris floating in the Atlantic. "We have seen several pieces, what looked to be about 5 or 10 feet long and a couple feet wide," he said. The debris will be recovered and brought to a hangar at nearby Patrick Air Force Base.

NASA said most of the debris being found consisted of the thermal tiles that coat the outside of the or-biter to protect it from the heat of re-entering the atmosphere. Shults said the debris from the shattered shuttle fell into the ocean in an area between SO and 130 miles southeast of the launch site. He said the water there was 70 to 200 feet deep. New Hampshire schoolchildren, drawn to this launch because of the presence of McAuliffe, the first "common citizen" chosen to make a space flight, screamed and fought back tears. Americans everywhere watched in disbelief as television networks replayed the shuttle explosion.

Addressing schoolchildren who watched this flight more closely than others because a teacher was aboard and many special projects were planned for them, Reagan said: "I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's ploded. Flight director confirms that," said NASA's Steve Nesbitt. NASA said its computers showed that all communications with the shuttle broke off 74 seconds after launch, marking that as the moment of the explosion.

Mission Control reported that there had been no indication of any problem with the three shuttle engines, its twin solid boosters or any other system and that the shuttle just suddenly blew apart 10 miles high and 8 miles downrange of Cape Canaveral Ninety minutes after the accident, controllers were still at their consoles, solemnly examining flight data. Flags at Cape Canaveral were lowered to half-staff. The countdown clock that marks the progress of the mission continued for hours. NASA delayed its announcement that there appeared to be no survivors until it had conducted search-and-rescue efforts. Even before Moore's statement, it seemed impossible anyone could survive such a cataclysmic explosion.

The crew included McAuliffe and six NASA astronauts: commander Francis R. Scobee, 46; pilot Michael J. Smith, 40; Judith Resnik, 36; Ronald E. McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; and Gregory B.

Jarvis, 41. "I regret that I have to report that based on very preliminary searches of the ocean where the Challenger impacted this morning, these searches have not revealed any evidence that the crew of Challenger miles), downrange distance 3 nautical miles (3.4 statute miles). Engines throttling up, three engines now 104 percent. Mission Control Spacecraft Communicator: Challenger, go at throttle up. Smith: Roger, go at throttle up.

(Fireball occurs) Nesbitt: We're at a minute 15 seconds, velocity 2,900 feet per second (1,977 mph), altitude 9 nautical miles (10.35 statute miles), range distance 7 nautical miles (8.05 statute miles) (Long silence) Nesbitt: Flight controllers are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction. We have no downlink (communications). portant part of NASA's space-based shuttle communications network and a smaller $10 million payload that was to have studied Halley's comet. It was the second disaster to strike NASA's pioneering space program.

In January 1967 astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee burned to death while preparing for an Apollo flight when a fire destroyed their capsule during a training drill. Exploded External Fuel Tank CZZZ'ZT (2) jMcin Engines III it Reason for the explosion remains a mystery Rocket booster, fuel tank problems possible Lcunching pattern all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons." Earlier he had said, "You have to be out there on the frontier taking risks. Make it plain to them that life must go on." Glenn said: "I guess we always knew there would be a day like this." A congressional investigation was immediately announced, but many lawmakers were quick to express support for the nation's manned space effort. tank at right angles to the direction of flight, much speculation has centered on a failure of one of the solid rockets. If the solid fuel should be punctured or cracked, the flame from the igniting propellant would quickly open a hole through the crack and burn through the outer shell of the motor.

That could be what happened yesterday. If the booster rocket was the cause of the explosion, the source must have been an inherent defect in the rocket motor itself or damage to the motor sometime before launch. An inherent defect is a possibility, but the motors had performed flawlessly on the previous 24 shuttle launches. The motors' manufacturer, Thiokol Chemical forwarded all enquiries to NASA yesterday. Another possibility is that the cold weather froze the solid fuel causing it to crack.

The epoxy binder should be relatively impervious to cold, however, and it is also unlikely that the fuel would freeze because of the heavy insulation between it and the outer casing. A final possibility is physical damage. At his press conference, Moore acknowledged that a boom arm had hit the vehicle Sunday night He pointed out, however, that the boom had hit a small, box that protruded from the shuttle itself rather than the booster rocket, and that the damage was not serious. In November, however, NASA had reported that, "A section of a rocket motor intended to boost a teacher and six others into orbit may have been damaged in an industrial accident." Workers at Cape Canaveral, the report said, "heard a 'sharp, cracking sound' when an overhead crane was being used to lift a handling ring attached to the rocket section." That section was one of the eight sections that were combined to produce the two booster motors. NASA did not respond to inquiries about that incident yesterday.

orbiter from its rocket boosters and fuel tank, said John Lawrence, a NASA spokesman, but he said it would not have helped yesterday's crew because the blast came without warning. Mercury and Apollo space capsules had an escape rocket that would blast the crew's capsule to safety in an emergency. Gemini astronauts had ejection seats, White said. "With small craft that was practical. But the shuttle was too big.

You had people on two decks and crews of up to eight How would you arrange something like that?" White said. The Apollo escape tower, which lantic Ocean off Cape Canaveral but officials said there was no sign of the seven crewmembers killed in yesterday's explosion. At least 10 aircraft and nine surface vessels from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Aeronautics and Space Administration yesterday scoured a area centered about 30 miles off Cape Canaveral Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Bob Baeten said. Two ships and one plane were to remain searching through the night, he said.

A full search was to resume this morning at daybreak, he said. "There has been some debris recovered but it has not been identified," Baeten said. "The wreckage was described as being several small chunks, but I don't know the exact size or where it was found." Baeten said there had been no sightings of the bodies of the crewmembers. The shuttle exploded into a ball of flames minutes after lifting off from its launch pad yesterday morning, killing all seven crewmembers. The search for debris is being coordinated by the Coast Guard's 7th District operations center in Miami.

"Thirty miles off Cape Canaveral would put you in water depth of ISO to 160 meters or roughly over 500 feet," said Dr. Thomas Lee, a University of Miami research professor at the schpol's Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography. "That is a problem for divers," Lee said. "It's below safe working depth for scuba divers, so they would have to use some type of underwater cameras or submersible." Lee said the search area centers on a "fairly rugged" ocean bottom terrain past the edge of the continental shelf on the continental slope, which drops rapidly from 250 feet to about 2,500 feet. "That's a tricky area because not only is the depth changing quite rapidly, but the western edge of the Gulf Stream is flowing right through that region and that produces strong currents." The currents would probably not scatter the debris very far because most of it would likely sink, but it could seriously hamper search and particularly recovery operations, Lee said.

Searching yesterday were three C-130 aircraft, five large H-3 helicopters, a P-3 Orion aircraft and a NASA Huey helicopter, according to Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jim Simpson. In addition, two 41-foot Coast Guard patrol boats and the 82-foot cutter Point Roberts were searching along with four U.S. Navy ships and two NASA recovery ships normally useM to retrieve the shuttle's rocket boosters, Simpson said.

the scheduled Feb. 21 launching, which was to be the first of the three-man Apollo flights that led to landing men on the moon. At about .6:30 p.m., there was a shout on the communications system. Seconds later, a voice, probably Chaffee's, uttered the dread cry: "We've got a fire in the cockpit!" They never had a chance. In the cockpit's pure oxygen, the fire was intense.

Flames from the burning polyurethane foam floor cushion flared between the astronauts and the hatch that was their only exit Technicians listened, horrified, to a garbled transmission. A sharp cry of pain was heard. In less than 25 seconds, pressure ruptured the inner hull and clouds of toxic smoke filled the cockpit For a moment fire enveloped the outside of the capsule. Twenty-seven men working on the 310-foot gantry grabbed gas masks and rushed to the cabin level. Their gas masks were ineffective, and all 27 were treated for smoke inhalation.

They were valiant but they couldn't help. The astronauts died in seconds. What caused the fire? More than 1,500 experts dissected the charred cockpit and studied blobs of melted metal from the 15 miles of wiring. They said the fire probably started when a broken or bruised wire contacted metal, shooting sparks into the cockpit's nylon netting, which prevented loose objects from floating into crevices during weightlessness. Yesterday in Mitchell, Grissom's parents said the disaster had brought back a lot of memories.

Dennis Grissom said his son was always aware of the odds. Launch Control Public Information Commentator Hugh Harris: 10-9-8-7-6, we have main engine start, 4-3-2-1, and liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission. And it has cleared the tower. Pilot Mike Smith: Roll program.

Mission Control Spacecraft Communicator: Roger, roll, Challenger. Mission Control Public Information Commentator Steve Nesbitt: Roll program confirmed. Challenger now heading down range. The engines are throttling down now at 94 percent. Normal throttle for most of the flight is 104 percent.

We'll throttle down to 65 percent shortly. Engines at 65 percent. Three engines running normally. Three good fuel cells. Three good APUs (auxiliary power units).

Velocity 2,257 feet per second (1 ,400 mph), altitude 4.3 nautical miles (4.9 statute "Today, our shock turns to sadness," House speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. said. "We salute those who risked and gave their lives to serve our country at the last great frontiers. We salute those who died performing exploits that the people of my age grew up reading about in comic books or in fiction." Lost along with the $1.2 billion spacecraft were a $100-million satellite that was to have become an im Spcco Shuttb "Challenger" Cockpit Shuttb Orbiter" Cargo Bay- If yesterday's explosion was not caused by the booster rocket, then it almost certainly was caused by a leak in the main fuel tank, which carried the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen that are fed to the orbiter's three rocket engines.

Unofficial NASA sources speculated that a seam on the tank might have ruptured under stress, releasing hydrogen into the air. Because of all the heat' generated by the rocket motors and the ship's passage through the air, the hydrogen could have ignited on contact with the air or when it reached the rocket motor. This scenario was supported by the presence of what appeared to be feathery flames around the tail of the left booster immediately before the large explosion. escape was designed to pull the capsule off the rocket and parachute it to safety, was never used, even in the flash fire that killed the crew of Apollo 1 on Jan. 27, 1967, on the ground.

Soviet officials have said ejection mechanisms saved three cosmonauts when their craft exploded on a launch pad in September 1983. A report on yesterday's explosion by Tass, the official Soviet news agency, noted that Challenger was not equipped with such mechanisms. The first four test flights of the shuttle Columbia, each carrying two-man crews, were equipped with ejection seats much like those on a jet fighter, where the pilot can "punch out," White said. endurance longed explorations of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It shared its name with the Apollo 17 spacecraft, which flew Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt to a moon landing.

The reuseable spaceship had completed its last flight in November after finishing a successful seveiKlay mission. rVSX2 By THOMAS H. MAUGH II Los Angeles Times A little more than a minute after the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center yesterday morning, a thin tongue of flame appeared between the left booster rocket and the shuttle's main fuel tank. The flame was not seen by observers on the ground, but slow-motion videotapes of the launch show it clearly. Less than a second later, nearly 200,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen in the main fuel tank exploded in a massive fireball that enveloped the shuttle orbiter and sent both solid rocket boosters flying off in near opposite directions.

The explosion destroyed the orbiter, killed its passengers and seriously damaged the future of the American space program. While there is little doubt about what happened, the problem of how it happened remained a major mystery. By the end of yesterday, however, most of the speculation centered on two possibilities. One is that a defect in the solid rocket booster caused exhaust flames to spew from the side of the rocket, igniting the main fuel tank. The second is that a seam in the main fuel tank itself ruptured, releasing hydrogen that caught fire and ignited the explosion.

Investigators will probably not be able to determine precisely which of those scenarios occurred, however, until the wreckage of the boosters and the fuel tank are recovered, a process that could take several weeks. Launch is the most hazardous time for the shuttle, as well as other rockets, both because they are carrying a full fuel load and because they are subjected to maximum stress during that period. With all five rocket motors three on the shuttle itself and one on each of the solid rocket boosters HQ 1 Disaster brings fatal Apollo fire to mind analysis firing, the vehicle has enough power to literally batter itself to pieces as it forces its way through the dense air near the ground. For that reason, the three main motors on the orbiter are throttled back to about 65 percent of maximum thrust shortly after liftoff. They remain throttled back until the vehicle passes through the point of maximum wind resistance.

That point typically occurs about 1 minute and 9 seconds into the mission, when the rocket is passing through an altitude of 4.9 miles at a speed of about 1,800 miles per hour. It is at that point that the shuttle is exposed to the maximum stress of the flight. Above that altitude, the air thins rapidly and resistance to the rocket's passage drops off sharply. The main engines are then throttled up to full power to complete the climb out of the atmosphere. Shuttle commander Francis Scobee was apparently in the process of throttling up when the explosion occurred.

The vehicle would thus have been exposed to two very strong stresses within a short period of time: the maximum stress from wind resistance and stress from the added acceleration caused by throttling up. The fact that the explosion occurred during the period of maximum stresses strongly suggests structural failure. NASA Associate Administrator Jesse Moore also told a press conference yesterday afternoon that there was no indication of problems on board on the part of the astronauts, or by the ground crew. This lack of prior warning also suggests catastrophic structural failure. Because the videotapes of the explosion seemed to show a sheet of flame traveling between the solid rocket booster and the main fuel Challenger crew in yesterday's explosion, White said.

"After launch, there is no egress except for an intact landing," White said. "It's basically like a commercial aircraft. How do you rescue 300 people?" The shuttles and other National Aeronautics and Space Administration space vehicles have emergency slides on launch pads for the crews, and the shuttles have hatches through which the crew could escape in the event of an emergency landing or a belly crash into the ocean. The shuttle carried life rafts and survival kits but no parachutes, White said. The shuttles do have levers astronauts can pull to separate the NASA official: Crew had no way to EDITOR'S NOTE "If we die, we want people to accept it, Gus Grissom once said.

"We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us, it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. NEW YORK (AP) The space shuttle Challenger exploded 19 years and one day after another fiery disaster shocked the nation and threatened the American space program. On Jan. 27, 1967, three Apollo 1 astronauts were incinerated in their space capsule as it sat atop a Saturn rocket on the launching pad.

Killed were Air Force Lt Col. Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Lt Col. Edward H. White and Navy Lt Cmdr. Roger B.

Chaffee, who were performing tests for what was to be the first manned Apollo flight They were the first U.S. astronauts killed in a space vehicle. Three other astronauts had died in airplane crashes. Grissom, who was 40, had been a-space pioneer. One of the seven Original Mercurv astronauts, he had piloted the United State's second manned flight in, July 1961 and had to swim to safety when the capsule sank after its ocean splashdown.

He had also been the first astronaut to manuever a una re- craft in flight and the first to fly iwo missions the second Mercurv flieht and the first in the Gemini series. White. 36. had been the first American to walk in space. Chaffee.

31. was a rookie astronaut eagerly awaiting his first flight The three men were in the cockpit Jan. 27 to check several major sysiems in preparation for SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -The astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger had no way to escape the vehicle once it left the launch pad, a NASA spokesman said yesterday. Astronauts aboard Apollo, Gemini and Mercury missions could be ejected from their spacecraft, and astronauts aboard the first four space shuttle missions had ejection seats as well, spokesman Terry White said. But the ejection provision was removed once the program advanced from the testing phase and the size of crews grew, White said.

It is doubtful any escape mechanism would have helped the Challenger By JOHN WHITEHAIR Gannett News Service PALMDALE, Calif. The space shuttle Challenger rolled out of the Rockwell International factory here on June 30, 1982, to a cheering throng of workers and space en- designed for strength, thusiasts. The third shuttle built by Rockwell and the second one that orbited the earth, it made its maiden flight from Kennedy Space Center in 1983. Challenger was designed for a minimum of 100 space missions without a major overhaul. It was the first of the space shut- ties to have conventional seats for the astronauts instead of.

the jet-fighter-type ejection seats used in the Columbia. The aft section and cargo bay were designed to be stronger to meet the rigors of repeated flights. The Challenger was named after a Navy sailing ship that made pro- 4.