European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday March 23, 1986 William f. Buckley challenger investigation bordering on the absurd one recent headline read investigator says Booster temperature was absurd so is becoming absurd the feverish investigation into the tragedy of the space shuttle challenger. Not because it is absurd to inquire into the causes of accidents but because the spirit of this inquiry gives off unhealthy doors one part Luddite one part ideological one part opportunistic. Here is some perspective on the Chal Lenger Accident. On May 2, 1953, 37 passengers and six Crew members of a Boac Comet jetliner were killed when the aircraft crashed in a storm 30 Miles from Calcutta India. On Jan. 10, 1954, a second British Comet exploded off Elba killing 35 per sons. The Comet was grounded investigations conducted and its airworthiness certificate renewed on March 23. On april 8 of the same year a third Comet Jet Airliner crashed into the Mediterranean near Capri in route from Rome to Cairo killing 21 persons. There followed a painstaking investigation that resulted in the reconstruction of virtually the entire plane seized up from the Bottom of the Mediterranean. And then the awful verdict the British Comet was not Strong enough structurally to sustain the pressure of Jet flight. The British had counted on its Comet to Spear head the new age of aviation. The Rebuff was of historical consequence. Because of course the americans took Over and in four years time Boeing re leased its 707 Jet. The first International passenger flight of that Jet in 1958, was not without drama. Halfway across the Ocean at 35,000 feet the Captain and the co Pilot ambled aft to socialize with the celebrities on Board to enjoy the first experience. Suddenly the aircraft nose dived. By extraordinary exertion the Captain groped his Way toward the cockpit an act of physical prowess comparable to climb ing a ladder with a 200-Pound pack on your Back contending As he was against a the or no Force of several g s. He reached the control wheel when the plane was Only a few thousand feet from the Ocean. A half minute later the plane would have disappeared the passengers dead and Jet aviation by the estimate of some contemporary critics set Back by 10 years. The Assumption would have been look you just can t take an aircraft Large enough for a couple of Hundred people and Fly it at the Speed of the Jet. Nature has told us no first As regards the Comet now As regards the Boeing 707. Instead the Federal aviation administration promulgated a couple of rules. One of them rejigs gered the Auto Pilot removing the Kink that had almost destroyed the plane. The second specified and still does that the Pilot and the co Pilot May not simultaneously be absent from the controls. We Are treating the challenger crisis As though it had brought into question our entire space program. Soviet leaders whose concern for human life caused within the Kremlin a Lach Remose convulsion Over the loss of seven americans suggested that the Only Way to atone for their death was to cancel our space shield program. The president commissioned something on the order of the Warren commission which was convened to discover the Story behind the assassination of John f. Kennedy. We Are Reading melodramatic reports on whether a change in outdoor temperature of three degrees is enough to weaken the of rings in the Booster causing the fatal link. We should of course continue the investigation. But the gloom and pessimism Are simply not objectively justified. Nasa undoubtedly has in it people who Are capable of making mistakes. After All surgeons occasionally leave their instruments inside their patients stomachs. But surely the Point to Bear in mind alongside the spectacular and petrify ing loss of the lives of seven americans is the performance of Nasa Over the years. It was less than 30 years ago that our space program consisted of rockets that acted like Boome Rangs off Florida beaches. Ten years later we landed a Man on the Moon. The fatal flight was the 25th space shuttle. A total of 10 lives have been lost in the entire space program. In safety it com pares with the peacetime use of nuclear Energy. And reminds us a Little of it the morbid glee with which any report any where of one and one half More Roentgen in the blood of one White mouse than is Normal they will shut Down three mile Island for a couple of decades. The space program and its corollaries among them the dream of defying aggressive misses carrying nuclear explosives is properly interrupted by the event of Jan. 28 for the Sake of non hysterical review it ought never to be challenged As intrinsically deficient or even problematic. C Universal press Syndicate Carl Rowan investigation of the sacred cow not a Witch Hunt the sacred cow image of the National aeronautics and space administration was gravely wounded by the tragic explosion of challenger in which seven pioneers died. Now More than by that disaster Nasa is being wounded by the coverups the self serving testimony the arrogant displays of defensiveness by those who Call themselves friends and supporters of the space pro Gram. James c. Fletcher the Man named by president Reagan to make a rescuing re turn As head of Nasa said recently that the investigation by or. Reagan s Rogers commission is a Witch Hunt. It is Proba Bly necessary but it is a Witch Hunt and i Don t like Witch  there is no reason on Earth or beyond to expect Fletcher to right what is wrong with Nasa and level with the con Gress and the american people when he characterizes As a Witch Hunt an impeccably responsible investigation that has revealed that technical experts at Morton Thi Okol builder of the solid rocket boosters had warned the night before the ill fated challenger launch that cold weather posed a serious threat but that some Nasa officials pressured a Morton Thi Okol official to give a vaguely worded approval for the launch. Exposed serious flaws in Nasa s decision making process a procedure under which a fatal launch could take place without top officials of the shuttle program Ever knowing of the warnings against the launch. Provoked revelations that Nasa continued a frenetic launch schedule despite two years of memos from John Young Nasa s chief astronaut and commander of the first space shuttle flight that the Agency was putting launch schedule pres sure above safety and had exposed Astro nauts to numerous potentially catastrophic hazards. Young made Public an awesome list of safety problems that he said threatened the astronauts. Found the testimony and evidence so disturbing that astronaut Sally ride a member of the commission said publicly that she is not ready to Fly  the shuttle. I think very few of the astronauts  sen. Jake Garnr Utah who flew on the shuttle discovery in april 1985 and who should consider himself Lucky to be alive according to Young was Quick to Label As vultures those who have tried to find out what went wrong with the Chal Lenger launch. Garn pressured the White House to appoint Fletcher to another term As head of Nasa. Garn chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees Nasa appropriations is a cheerleader for the shuttle program. Fletcher sold the shuttle program to then president Nixon during Fletcher s 1971 1977 tenure As Nasa administrator so this is his baby which he is Likely to protect no matter what. Fletcher recently said in a to interview that whatever went wrong with challenger the people inside Nasa will fix it but i Don t think we need All this Witch  before confirming Fletcher the Senate ought to discern whether he knows the difference Between truth seeking fact finding and Witch Hunting. The shuttles will Fly again As they must. But How soon and How often will depend on Nasa s ability to regain the Confidence of the astronauts and the american people. And that will depend on Fletcher s Dedica Tion to shaping up the Nasa bureaucracy after he admits that he was foolishly premature in calling the Rogers commis Sion a Witch  c news America Syndicate the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As represent no the views of the stars and stripes or the United states govern ment