European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes tuesday february 4,1088 2 ships 3rd robot sub join Cabin search Cape canaveral Fla. A two ships and third robot Nib Marine joined the search for challenger s Cabin monday As investigators studied film and data that could Tell whether a mysterious spurt of fire from a rocket triggered the destruction of the shuttle and its Crew. The investigation Board held its first full formal meeting monday and Nasa spokesman Hugh Harris said Jesse Moore shuttle director and head of the Board would meet with reporters later in the week. Until then Harris said the Public could expect Little information from the Board. You should not expect any substantive information on cause and effect until the Board has completed its  Harris said. He did say that if challenger s Cabin or remains of the Crew members were found information would be released after identification was made. As the probe into tuesday s disaster proceeded Nas official were confident they could pinpoint the cause and resume shuttle flights perhaps As Early As june. This is fundamentally a sound system William , acting director of the National aeronautics and space administration said sunday. It s gone through 24successful flights. There was obviously an Accident he said there s problem there. But the Overall configuration and design we believe to be fundamentally sound and we believe it won take a very Long time to get this problem  he said investigators Are not certain How to interpret photographs that show a plume of flame at or near a seam on challenger s right rocket Booster grow and grow. Until it reaches the explosion Point Nasa sources insisting on anonymity say the flame probably triggered the explosion of challenger s fuel tank that occurred 73 seconds after liftoff. Fiery debris from the spaceship rained into the Atlantic Ocean Over a wide area East and North of Cape canaveral. Ships and planes have been combing the area and the coast guard reported monday that 11 tons of charred floating wreckage have been recovered. The shuttle and it cargo of two satellites weighed about 123 tons. Most of the floating debris in the 60,000-Square-Milesearch area has been salvaged leaving the search focused Between 20 and 40 Miles off Daytona Beach 75 Miles tothe North where Nasa believes the Cabin might have sunk. Sonar has detected several Large objects in that area but rough currents and murky water Nave hampered the efforts of divers and two robot submarine. The water is140 feet deep there. Even if the Cabin survived the explosion reasonably in tact the tremendous Impact after a fall of eight Miles might have broken it up. If so the bodies of the Crew members might never be found the submersible Scorpio is being deployed off the lib erty Star and sprint is being operated by the Crew of the Freedom Star. Joining the search Armada monday was the Independence Star with a third robot the recon in. The three ships Are rocket recovery vessels whose usual task is to retrieve the two shuttle boosters for reuse after they Parachute into the water. Also joining the search monday was a Craft that will train sonar on shallow Waters just offshore. The search Fleet now totals 10 ships and 15 aircraft the Board War in Huntsville Ala sunday to attend memorial service for the seven astronauts and to Confer with engineers at the Marshall space flight Center Shenasa Center that manages the Booster rocket contract the main contractor is Morton Thi Okol chemical corp. Of Brigham City Utah. On sunday and monday the astronauts were remit of Breed in somber Church and memorial services across do country. Lost in the explosion were Francis r. Scobee 4$ the commander Michael j. Smith 40, the Pilot Judith a. Resnyk 36 Ronald e Mcnair 35 Ellison s. Kaizuka 39 / 4pniadou, m s3 is comi nmn r am