European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 stars and stripes saturday March 15, 1986 shuttle s flight recorders recovered sources say Cape canaveral Fla. A rough seas kept most of challenger s re covery Fleet in port Friday after sources said divers had recovered All four flight re corders and some of the space shuttle s five computers. The instruments although submerged in Salt water for six weeks May Tell investigators about the moments before and after challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight Jan. 28, killing the Crew of seven. Sources close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity said the recorders and computers were brought ashore wednesday night along with More remains of the Crew parts of the flight deck two unused space suits and other de Bris. The recovery ship preserver put to sea Early Friday but was forced Back As winds gusting to 40 Mph whipped up 10-foot swells and thunderstorms moved in on the area 20 to 40 Miles Northeast of Cape canaveral. The winds Are too High to allow us to operate Side scan sonar and the seas Are too High to put divers or submersibles in the water safely said Navy spokeswoman it. Cmdr. Deborah Burnette. In addition to the flight computers the recovered monitors include the shuttle s two operational recorders a payload recorder and a modular auxiliary data system re Corder. They could provide information on such things As temperatures accelerations and structural stresses. They were being kept in Cool water until they could be cleaned and dried under con trolled temperatures and humidity at a National aeronautics and space administration tape recorder facility. The computers which were in Complete control of the spacecraft during liftoff May provide data on How the shuttle reacted during the thousandth of a second after the explosion occurred. Nasa would like the preserver s divers to get Back to work As soon As possible so they can finish recovering the remains of the seven astronauts and Cabin equipment. Another priority for recovery is a 400-to 500-Pound chunk that officials say could be the segment of the right Booster rocket believed responsible for the explosion. The piece was located 32 Miles Northeast of Here wednesday by a four Man submarine the Johnson sea link 2. Still and television photos were taken of the Booster part and were being examined by experts to determine if it is the suspect part. If it is recovery could be difficult because of the 650-foot water depth and Strong currents. Nasa out of deference to the Astro nauts families has not publicly acknowledged that Crew remains have been recovered but sources have said the preserver also brought in body parts saturday night. There was evidence of this wednesday when the preserver arrived. An Honor guard of sailors in dress Blue stood at Parade rest on the deck in front of what appeared to some to be a Flag draped object. The ship s Captain it. Cmdr. John c. Devlin said he had ordered the Honor guard out of respect for the contents and parts of challenger s Crew compartment that were aboard. Comet from Page 1 Low dust activity during the encounter very Clear. The nucleus is appreciably larger than what we have assumed before perhaps two times As Large. It has a very irregular surface not Ball shaped and it is indented in the Middle like a Peanut or maybe a potato. It is very dark in color absolutely Black the darkest Black you can imagine. A Blac like velvet i would say. So we think there cannot be ice on the surface that there must be some kind of crust with the ice further  tiny dust storms rage in scattered locations on the Core s crust and one end of the Core sports a nozzle formation that spews Gas and highly charged dust particles he said. The Core is roughly nine Miles Long but scientists Are having trouble determining its Width because dust pouring off the nucleus obscures its True dimensions. Keller believes the Core is at least two Miles wide. Keller admits the loss of radio signal Cost scientists an appreciable part of the  we really got images from Only one Angle from one Side of the nucleus. We could have had images from 180  Friday s encounter was the culmination of an eight month 400-million-mile space ride for Giotto. The spacecraft s encounter with the Comet began shortly after 9 . Thursday As Giotto hurtled across what scientists Call the Bow Shock the turbulent outer Edge of the Cornet s coma the Clou like mass surrounding the nucleus. Nearly 90 million Miles from Earth and travelling 150,000 Miles per hour Giotto began its final 180,000-mile journey to the Comet s Core. By Midnight the nine experiments aboard were sending steady streams of data to waiting computers. The Craft s multicolour camera wowed spectators with a Stream of computer enhanced photos taken at four second intervals and showing Halley s nucleus in vibrant splendor. But while still 1,000 Miles from its planned closest encounter Giotto came under heavy dust bombardment. The pounding slowly increased until the Craft was suffering 120 hits per second Mission specialists said. The probe began rocking violently its Antenna tilted away from Earth and communications were lost just two seconds before Giotto was to have made its closest approach. The data link was restored in about half an hour but the Craft sent Only intermittent signals and there were signs that some of the experiments on Board had been dam aged. The latest assessments indicate Giotto suffered damage to its dust Protection sys tem and ruptured heat insulation screens or blankets. Only four of the Craft s 10 experiments Are still in working order. But the Craft s solar panels Antenna and guidance systems remain functioning fueling speculation that Giotto could be used for a  Ond Comet encounter perhaps As Early as1991. It May be weeks perhaps months before the bulk of the data supplied by Giotto is Analysed scientists at the Center said since results from the Giotto Mission will be com pared with data gathered during the flights of japanese and soviet Craft to Halley s in the past month. Mission controllers in Darmstadt planned to continue tracking Giotto during its exit ride out of the Comet probably through the weekend. National aeronautics and space administration representative Burton Edelson said he applauded the Success of the Giotto mis Sion and praised the International cooperation that led to its Success. There is a momentous thrill and excite ment that goes with working on a project like this and the level of science has been extremely Good he said. But the biggest Benefit is the new working relationships we be formed with the european space Agency and the soviets. We want to try to keep that going after the Giotto project is  he expressed some disappointment in the charter from Page 1 charter plane in Gander Newfoundland. In its report the Gao focused on safety violations dating Back to Early 1984 at two airlines air resorts a Small charter operator based in Carlsbad calif., and South Pacific Island airways based in Honolulu. South Pacific Island airways authority to operate Large Jet aircraft was revoked by the Faa last May but it continues to Fly smaller aircraft on non military business in american Samoa and Guam. Air resorts is transporting military personnel under a $3 million contract with the Pentagon and was praised by an air Force procurement officer last August As a top notch airline with an excellent record of reliability and  the Gao report paints a different Pic Ture. Investigators concluded the Faa s inspections of the two carriers raise a num ber of questions about the Agency s ability to identify air Carrier violations. And see that they Are remedied in a reason Able period of  it also said the study showed no evidence that the Faa Ever informed the defense department about safety problems it found at the two airlines. Pentagon officials in the past have said they rely on the Faa to determine whether a charter airline is operating safely. According to the Gao investigators Faa inspectors in Early 1984 found numer Ous safety violations at both air resorts and South Pacific Island airways and urged that the carriers immediately be grounded. Air resorts agreed to ground much of its Fleet but was allowed to continue to Fly four aircraft it was using under a Navy contract claiming those planes were Safe. During the next 30 Days alone air resorts carried 2,479 . Military personnel according to the Gao. Later in 1984, air resorts was allowed to resume its operations after it claimed safety deficiencies had been corrected. But in december 1984, one of the airline s planes carrying the East Tennessee state University basketball team was destroyed following an engine fire in Jasper Ala. Four people were injured. The incident prompted the Faa to sus Pend air resorts License for 13 Days after inspectors determined that a number of safety problems uncovered earlier had not been corrected. While air resorts was allowed to resume flying the Faa inspection of the plane destroyed in Jasper continued. Eleven months after the Accident the Faa discovered that an air resorts official had falsified maintenance records involving the destroyed plane and that the airline had violated at least 11 safety regulations according to the Gao. The report said a $30,000 Fine was recommended against air resorts but the matter of the violations and the falsification Issue Are unresolved. Ironically just As the Faa was discover ing these violations the air Force was giving air resorts More business. In August 1985, it. Col. Charles Botula chief of the contract Airlift Survey office recommended approval of two new contracts with air resorts. According to an internal memo Botula considered the airline s problems with the Faa minor and said despite the flight mishap at Jasper the company is an Overall excellent  in the Case of South Pacific Island air ways Faa inspectors found numerous safety violations in May 1984 and recommended immediate suspension of the air line s License. The Faa s Western Pacific Region agreed but the airline was allowed to continue to operate for six months Dur ing which it carried 6,446 . Service members Between the . Mainland Hawaii american Samoa and Guam. Two months after the initial Faa find ing a South Pacific Island airways plane crashed in Samoa killing one person in an Accident attributed to a Rusty elevator Cable. Two months later another South Pacific Island airways aircraft carrying Fiji an soldiers on a flight from Alaska to the Netherlands strayed within 50 Miles of so Viet airspace in an incident later attributed to an inexperienced Crew. The incident prompted the Faa to re Yoke South Pacific Island Airway s operating permit in october 1984. Faa spokesman Bob Buckhorn said the Agency had no comment on the Gao re port. He said Faa officials had not seen it. Small role Nasa played in the Halley s Comet Mission but added we be pulled off a much bigger feat with our voyager uranus Mission. We Don t have to prove anything to anyone. We have the  Edelson said Japan Europe and the soviet Union have tentatively agreed to joint space projects that would study radio Telem etry primitive bodies such As planets comets and asteroids and the Sun. He said Nasa has already agreed to a joint exploration of Mars with the soviets. A manned Mission to Mars is still a pretty far out idea he said. We could t do that before 2015, something like  news in Brief Washington up the Senate passed a $6.7 billion deficit reduction Bill Friday that includes an Extension of the 16 cent a pack cigarette tax and allows re lease of offshore Oil revenues but Dis agreements with the House of representatives held up final approval. Temperatures March 13 l h l h 30 35 Albany 51 68 34 52 Albuquerque 55 60 28 40 Anchorage 57 71 57 66 Atlanta 57 68 41 47 Atlantic City 74 77 38 46 Baltimore 32 34 37 49 Billings 59 68 61 66 Birmingham 54 74 30 50 Boise 36 40 34 38 Boston 44 70 36 50 Buffalo 0 52 21 34 Burlington 32 36 60 73 Charleston . 69 88 58 72 Charleston . 39 4537 56 Chicago 39 60 49 67 Cincinnati 27 33 37 60 Cleveland 45 51 46 65 Dallas fort Worth 35 38 31 53 Denver 47 74 35 37 Des a Oines 33 48 34 49 Detroit 48 63 -4 26 Fairbanks 70 86 28 37 Fargo 35 47 33 36 Hartford 51 60 70 83 Honolulu 3 61 59 79 Houston 38 53 51 62 Indianapolis 33 38 69 87 Jacksonville 43 66 38 42 Kansas City 40 49 40 62 Las vegas 35 47 Little Rock los Angeles Louisville Memphis Miami Beach mils St. Paul Nashville new Orleans new York City Norfolk Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Pittsburgh Portland Maine Portland Ore. Providence Raleigh Reno St. Louis St. Petersburg Salt Lake City san Diego san Francisco Seattle Syracuse Tucson Washington Wichita european Weathe forecast for saturday mostly to partly Cloudy skies in the Benelux and extreme Western Germany. Elsewhere Cloudy skies with locally dense morning fog becoming Haze in the afternoon. High tempera Tures in the Mld-40s to Low 50s lows in the upper 30s to Low 40s. Sunset saturday 6 29 Sunrise sunday 6 39. Outlook for sunday expect Little change in weather conditions. Temperatures nearly the same. Temperatures recorded Friday Adana p Amsterdam Athens cd Aviano m Berlin cd Bremerhaven cd Brussels f provided i i by 4am 52 38 50 43 36 33 33 det. 4pm 4am 4pm 72 Copenhagen Fig 32 34 43 54 54 48 45 46 13, Frankfurt cd London p Madrid f Munich m Paris f Rome p 7th weather so 38 33 38 33 32 45 4354 57 43 54 58 Graben other worldwide temperatures High Low 81 57 52 43 30 21 Cairo f Dublin cd Helsinki f Jerusalem Lisbon f 57 45 Montreal Moscow cd Oslo cd Toronto Vancouver High Low 34 21 34 30 supplied by the associated press of fair cd Cloudy a partly Cloudy a mostly Cloudy Fig fog