European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 8, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 san Antonio remembers the Alamo san Antonio Texas a amid deafening volleys of muskets in the Dawn people in Coonskin Caps and other period dress extinguished 188 candles at the Alamo to commemorate the deaths of the defenders of the Spanish Mission 150 years ago. About 1,000 history buffs and other spectators watched the thursday re enactment of the Dawn attack by 4,000 mexican soldiers led by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. All 188 Alamo defenders were killed in the bloody Battle March 6, 1836, which ended a 13-Day siege. I love Mexico and i love Texas. And to me Freedom is precious said Charles Morfin 44. He came with his two sons from Sante be Springs calif., to portray Alamo defender Gregorian Esparza in the drama. We wanted to be a part of it. It s been a wonderful expert  Between 600 and 700 mexicans were killed and 1,000 were wounded in the Battle. The prolonged fight staved off Santa Anna s Advance and gave the Texas army time to gather forces for a final Victory 47 Days later at san Jacinto. Texas became a Republic after the Victory and joined the United states nine years later in 1845. Thursday s ceremonies were a Milestone in the Texas sesquicentennial which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Texas Independence from Mexico. This is a very rare event. One Hundred fifty years of Texas history begins at the moment of this re enactment this morning said san Antonio mayor Henry Cisne Ros. Try to put yourself in this exact spot this same piece of real estate 150 years ago. Imagine the screams of human pain that must have pierced the air 188 human beings not possibly knowing their sacrifice would Lead to a Victory by Sam Houston or what Texas would become today Cisneros said. After san Antonio radio newscaster Henry Guerra read a narrative of the siege costumed men blew out the 188 candles they had lighted and butlers from the 5th army band at fort Sam Houston played the chilling  that tune was played for the mexican army in the final assault and is the traditional mexican signal that no survivors be taken. Then the actors fired three jolting rounds from Long rifles and muskets. Remember the Alamo remember these men Guerra shouted recalling the Battle cries that spurred the Texas army on at san Jacinto where Santa Anna was Defeated april 21,1836. Later the men re enacted the famous legend in which Alamo commander col. William Barret Travis was believed to have drawn an imaginary line with his sword and told his soldiers those of you who Are willing to stay with me and die with me Cross this  All but one Soldier crossed the line. The Loyal included col. James Bowie who was ill and had to be carried across the line on a cot. Historians have cast doubt on whether the Cross the line speech Ever was delivered but it has remained prominent in Alamo lore. This is just a special place for anybody that loves Freedom and what it costs said Jeff Bearden 32, of Vernon Texas. He played a Coonskin capped Davy Crockett in the ceremony. History teacher Jim Leffier 63, of fort Worth said he planned this trip to the Alamo several years ago. I decided i would be Here at 5 30 . On March 6.1 did t know until yesterday there would be these Cere monies he said. He said hearing the Alamo legend changed his life As a child and led him to become a history teacher. The Alamo he said is one of the greatest symbols of  pane told of problems in assembling Booster Cape canaveral Fla. Up engineers ran into problems assembling the space shuttle challenger s suspect rocket Booster and documents presented to the Rogers commission Friday outlined a variety of possible failures that could have led to the shuttle s destruction. Documents presented to the commission for its first Public hearing outside Washington concluded detailed re views of shuttle Salvage operations prelaunch processing of the doomed spaceship and an analysis of the possible faults that led to history s worst space disaster. Air Force col. Edward o Connor director of the Sal Vage operation told the commission the highest priority in the recovery Effort is Salvage of key sections of challenger s right Side solid fuel rocket Booster. A rupture in a joint connecting the lower two of four fuel segments in the Booster triggered the explosion of the ship s giant external fuel tank Jan. 28, destroying the spaceship and killing the shuttle s seven Crew members. O Connor said approximately 10 percent of the shuttle s wreckage has been located. The metallurgical and chemical teams feel we had a catastrophic in flight breakup due to a combination of blast effects and aerodynamic overloads o Connor said. Basically there is no evidence of anything exploding or igniting within the orbiter itself o Connor said. The end result of All the most plausible failure scenarios presented to the commission Friday is a Jet of flame hit Ting the aft end of the external tank causing a massive rupture. Documents presented to the commission showed four roundness measurements made dec. 6 on the upper fuel segment were unacceptable. Initially the fuel segment was 0.512 inches out of round. The commission was told engineers tried to Force the segment into shape by suspending it from cranes and Al lowing the weight of the propellant inside to smooth out the joint s roundness. That did not work and a Hydraulic tool was used to Force the segment into shape. The segments then were judged Safe to Fly. Solid rocket motor seals upper segment steel casing liner Asbestos polymer primary o ring synthetic rubber secondary o ring synthetic rubber pin retainer band weather Seal insulation synthetic rubber lower segment steel casing d solid propellant Putty Zinc chromate with Asbestos inhibitor synthetic rubber solid pro auant n How a teak could occur if a de bonding a crack or Gap occurs in the rubber inhibitor or insulation burning fuel could escape through a joint by burning through liner Putty primary and secondary o rings and the steel casing Chicago tribute graphic sources Chicago Tribune news report Abonal aeronautics and space  the challenger disaster has grounded the nation s manned space program for at least a year to allow time for corrective action. In an interview with Abc television Sally ride a vet eran of two shuttle flights said she is not ready to Fly again now. I think that there Are very few astronauts who Are ready to Fly again  the commission heard thursday that a puff of steam emerged from challenger s right Booster rocket at ignition suggesting Rainwater collected in a seam froze and in another development thursday a Nasa Engineer said testing had proved that of rings in seams Between Booster rocket segments could not have been damaged by cold weather or by a design flaw raising the possibility of a defect in a seam. The space shuttle which exploded 73 seconds after lift off Jan. 28, had been exposed to the elements on the launch pad for 37 Days when it was pelted by at least one torrential storm with 4 inches of rain. The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the steam emerged at 0.2 of a second after ignition pre ceding a puff of Black smoke from the Booster segment at 0.44 of a second. The possibility that internal ice in the a shaped joint triggered the Accident is a new Avenue of investigation for the presidential commission. Steam would indicate that ice formed when water in the motor joint boiled immediately after the boosters ignited the source said. Several engineers at Morton Thi Okol which makes the boosters said at earlier hearings that they had expressed concern before launch that sub freezing temperatures that Day might damage of rings in the seams. But . Kingsbury chief of the science and engineering directorate at the National aeronautics and space administration s Marshall space flight Center in Alabama told reporters that since the explosion of rings had been tested to temperatures of 10 degrees with no Adverse affect. Kingsbury said that proved the cold weather itself did not harm the rings. Lawrence b. Mulloy the space Agency s manager for Booster rockets dismissed the notion that water might have seeped into the Booster joints and turned to ice during a feb. 28 interview. But his Superior George Hardy declined to dismiss that possibility. Aviation week said Morton Thi Okol engineers and members of the presidential Board believe direct ice in May have forced open critical seals a source close to the Tererence with the seals was possible and that water in Thi inquiry said. Joint May prove to be a significant Factor in the  Pioneer of american modern Art Dies Santa be . Up Georgia o Keeffe regarded As a Pioneer of modern american Art has died at the age of 98. O Keeffe was taken to St. Vincent Hospi Tal at mid morning thursday and was pronounced dead at 12 20 . Hospital officials would release no other details. From the time of her first major exhibition 67 years ago at the gallery of the Man who became her husband photographer Al Fred Stieglitz o Keeffe s paintings defied specific classification. Using subjects that generally were Natu ral and often from the new Mexico desert her style was based on dramatic colors sharply defined edges and Strong patterns. Her paintings frequently were abstract and even when a subject was displayed realistically it often was placed in an unusual setting or shown oversized notably in the series of paintings of giant Flowers with which she was commonly associated. Among her Best known works Are Black Iris cow s Skull red White and Blue and sky above Clouds  in a 1976 autobiography o Keeffe de scribed her paintings As representations of shapes she visualized in her mind and said she used her subjects Bones shells flow ers buildings and Hills to say what is to me the wideness and wonder of the world As i live in  o Keeffe was born nov. 15,1887, in Sun Prairie wis. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art students league in new York and from 1908 to 1912 worked in commercial Art in Chicago. In 1912 she was hired As an Art teacher at Amarillo Texas. O Keeffe. Held several teaching jobs. While at Columbia . College in 1915, she held an exhibition for herself and concluded that she had Learned Little of value in her career. At that Point she later wrote she began to strip away what i had been taught and painted to please herself. In 1916, some of her Early drawings and Watercolours were shown at Stieglitz s Gal Lery without her knowledge. She met Stieg Litz when she went to the gallery to try to get her works taken Down but the photographer persuaded her to let them remain on View. A year later Stieglitz presented her first one woman show. They were married in 1924. Georgia o Keeffe