European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes thursday february 20, 1986 expert details objections to shuttle launch Washington not the top Morion Thi Okol Engineer present at the Kennedy space Center before the Jan. 28 liftoff of the space shuttle challenger Laid tues Day night that he had argued Tor hours with space Agency officials telling them not to launch the ship became flow temperatures. He said that he persisted even after his superiors had overruled him and Given the Agency a go ahead. The Engineer Allan j. Mcdonald a 26-year Veteran of Morton Thi Okol inc. Which makes the boosters said that at a closed session last Friday before the presidential panel investigating the Accident he recounted his somewhat heated exchanges with officials of the space Agency. He said in a Telephone interview tuesday night that those exchanges entered on the rocket seals that have become a major suspect in the explosion that killed the shuttle s seven Crew members. Mcdonald who is the director of Thi Okol s solid fuel rocket motor project also said he turned Over to the com Mission detailed notes made in the course of his dispute with the officials of the National aeronautics and space administration. He said he first warned Nasa officials about potential dangers after calculations performed by Morton Thi Okol engineers in Utah showed that the temperature of the o rings that Seal joints in the Booster rockets was about 30 degrees fahrenheit. That is 23 degrees lower he said than the temperature of the rings in a january 1985 shuttle launch that resulted in the largest amount of ring erosion Ever seen by Nasa officials. The of rings have emerged a leading suspect i the apparent failure of the right hand solid fuel Booster rocket. It b now believed that they May have set off Chain of events that led to the fireball that consumed the challenger and its Crew. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee tuesday actor Dies Howard a Silt actor director and a Roatner whose career spanned More than 55 Yean. Ins died to the age of 76. A Siha who was Best known for originating the role of Benjamin Franklin la the Broadway musical "1776" in 1969, died of Lymphoma a form of cancer at his Home in Ossining . Challenger 1.3 Mon pounds 184 fact Long 77 Fem not 4.5 Mon pounds Cataga Titus Anim semen a Omago to in pm Jesse w. Moore the space Agency s top shuttle official said he was not told about Low temperature readings on one of the challenger s Booster rockets the morning of the bunching and would have asked More probing questions Hod the Issue been brought to his attention. Mark Weinberg a spokesman for the presidential com Mission said it would not be appropriate to say whether or not Mcdonald had appeared before the commission in its closed session at the Kennedy space Center last week. Mcdonald said it was Likely he would be called to appear at an open hearing of the commission next week. The commission has confirmed that it took testimony from several Morton Thi Okol officials on Friday. Nasa officials said tuesday that technical Crews on the launch pad using infrared sensors had measured temperatures As Low As 7 to 9 degrees fahrenheit on the surface of the right hand Booster rocket near the of ring seals that Are suspected of failing. A breach of the of rings would allow super hot gases to escape through the Side casing of the 149-foot-Long rocket an event that Nasa officials had previously considered unlikely although some of their engineers had warned More than a year Ugo that such a breach could have Catas trophic consequences. Mcdonald said tuesday that on the night of Jan. 27, he was arguing primarily with Lawrence b. Mulloy who Heads Nasa s solid fuel Booster rocket project at the Marshall space flight Center in Huntsville Ala. It was a very prolonged discussion Mcdonald added. The engineers in Utah he said were largely in agreement with  nonetheless he said that his Superior Joe Kilminster overruled his objections around 11 30 . And transmitted to Nasa a facsimile copy of a letter approving the launch. But Mcdonald said that he believed the situation was so serious that he continued arguing his Point even after the letter had arrived at Cape canaveral. I argued before and i argued after he said in the Telephone interview from his Home in Ogden Utah. The Low temperatures make the of ring seals much harder stiffer and it caused them to shrink. It is hard to quantify but qualitatively that is what  Mulloy did not return a message tuesday night left on an answering machine at his Home in Huntsville. There was no answer at Kilminster s Home in Utah. Tylenol maker launches or drive to restore painkiller s Good image Newark . A in a gesture rare for a corporate executive Johnson & Johnson chairman James e. Burke thrust his clenched right Tut into the air on the nationally syndicated Donahue show. The to show s studio audience applauded heartily tuesday As Burke responded to a sympathetic caller who said the poisoning of extra strength tylenol capsules with cyanide were acts of terrorism. Other Johnson & Johnson executives appeared on net work news shows and the company look out full Page advertisements in newspapers wednesday in its Effort to save the image of tylenol the nation s no. I painkiller before a new York woman died 11 Days ago. There will probably be More television appearances be cause you can actually discuss and present your information in its context said company spokesman James Mur Ray. You Don t get disjointed  he added that the appearances give the company an Opportunity to convey its message correctly without the sensationalism Burke said has characterized some report diets if the ing. Bub Urke who was repeatedly applauded by the audience told interviewer Phil Donahue that the new Brunswick based company was planning to resume advertising within a week. Television and radio commercials were suspended after Diane Elsroth 23, died feb. 8 at a Friend s Home in Yonkers . The company on monday announced it was withdraw ing from the Over the counter capsule Market but would continue Selling tylenol tablets and caplets which Are coated Oval shaped tablets. The advertisements appearing in new York area news papers offer to replace tylenol capsules with the Cai or Cash refund. They include a blow up illustration of caplets and a mail in Coupon. The ads also explain Johnson & Johnson s decision to discontinue production of Over the counter capsules. No where in the and is the company s name mentioned. Johnson & Johnson Stock closed tuesday at 49 i up it. It stood at s3u before the news of the death. Industry watchers said the executive appearances especially by Burke can Only help. They be got to do everything they can to Salvage the product line said Robert Hodgson an analyst with Oppenheimer & co. Burke came across As forthright Blunt and sensitive on Donahue Hodgson said adding that the chairman s Demeanour reflected the baptism under fire Burke experienced after seven people died from cyanide tainted Tyle nol in Chicago in 1982. Burke appeared on Donahue following the Chicago poisonings and he said that broadcast turned business around. Mark Albion professor of marketing at Harvard Busi Ness school said Johnson & Johnson still needs to convey the feeling that every consumer is critically important to the company. Consumers love to hear that he said. He said the company should include employees in Addi Tion to top executives in television appearances because the Public would think that a company that cares about it workers also cares about its customers. Johnson & Johnson s task is made More difficult be cause of uncertainty Over whether competitors will continue Over the counter sales of capsules Albion said. Airborne missile casing crashes at Texas Plant Mcgregor Texas a an unarmed missile engine casing that Acci dentally ignited while it was being purged of fuel crashed through a Wall and was air borne briefly before Landing on company property a Plant official says. No one was injured in the Accident thursday at the Hercules inc. Plant. . Schechter manager of the Plant which makes the sidewinder air to air mis Sile engines and other weapons equipment for the military said the Accident came during a routine casing reclamation in which unwanted fuel is flushed from the engine casing. The Plant manager downplayed the significance of the Accident in an interview tuesday with the Waco Tribune Herald saying that the Plant is equipped to handle such misfiring. It scared. The fellow that was per forming the operation he said. But he said the casing crashed through a Blowout  he would t say How far the casing was airborne but noted that it landed Well with in Hercules property which is leased from the Navy. The casing was retrieved sat urday he said. He said that because the testing had been frequent recently he could t recall the Day of the Accident but a worker at the Plant said it happened about Midnight thursday. An official for the company who asked to remain unidentified said the company was Flushing defective solid fuel out of the unarmed rocket casing with a High pressure Stream of water. The Man said the procedure is done often whenever the casing is not filled correctly with fuel. When a cake Falls you Don t throw the pan away he said. You throw away the cake and Start with the same pan  the Texas am University research Cen Ter in Mcgregor leases 2,800 acres surround ing the Plant property reducing the Chance of a casing reaching a residential area said re search Center supervisor David Lunt. Lunt said none of his people spotted any debris on the Center s property. Mcgregor police chief Cris Spence said Hercules officials assured him the Community was in no danger. He said he did no know if the missile was armed. They told me that they had an Accident out there. They said it was classified and that there was no danger Spence said. And that was what i was interested