European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday May 10, 1966 the stars a no stripes Page 1 105-Ycur-old Edith i m tarns a deaf Carlo the homemade megaphone trumpeted by her daughter Edith Miner of 1-Acrossc, wis. Thy were participating in a sing in your ear along a the Beth Tny  nurse no Home. The sinking was part of the nursing home1 annual old time Church Rotl shuttle commission fears Quick fix Washington a the presidential commission worried thai Nasa is moving too hastily toward a Quick fix or inc rocket joint that destroyed the space shuttle challenger will insist that Independent scientists oversee a Iota i redesign sources say Nasa has been anxious., and they be been miking about getting inc thing shuttle Back in the air and they be been admonished not to do thai a source close la he commission said wednesday another source said members of the commission Are concerned that Nasa is just going ahead with redesign plans that were on the drawing Board before the Jan. 28 challenger explosion. "1 Don t think they know there was an Accident he said. Also. Sen. Albert Gore d-tenn., charged thursday that the National aeronautics end space Agency s Quality Assurance program has not Only eroded but in some cases virtually  Dnn Spalink decay Al a Hep Ringo the Senate space subcommittee Gore released figures showing that since 1970, there has been a 71 Perchem reduction in the level of Nasa personnel As signed to Quality Assurance. At the Marshall space flight Center which has the responsibility Tor development of inc Booster rocket that failed in the challenger flight the reduction is 86 percent he said. These numbers reflect inc devastating decay of what was one the finest Quality control programs anywhere Core told subcommittee members. Earlier Core said the figures indicate the rate of reductions among workers responsible for monitoring the Quality and reliability of work done for Nasa is More than double Blidt of cuts in its Overall work Force. Investigators studying the challenger Accident have cited the failure of of rings in the Racket Booster As a Likely cause of the explosion but workmanship on the blaster has not been criticized in Public  the presidential commission which is winding up its investigation planned to release a transcript of a closed hearing at which testimony concerned redesign of the Booster Racket joints mid Herb Clu u spokesman for the commission. Independent panel one of the recommendations they have mud to Nasa verbally and they arc going to do it by a letter very shortly is that they create an Independent panel of scientists to oversee the redesign of the joint and thai it be. An Independent group not from within Nasa la Cut said. He said the panel wants Independent scientists involved for the matter of credibility. Engineers from Nasa s Marshall space flight Center in Alabama and Booster rocket manufacturer Marton Chiokai had been summoned to he closed hearing to Dis cuss redesign of the flawed joint said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity Nasa engineers sparked spirited exchanges when they told commission members they were proceeding with Rede sign one source said. They arc taking delivery of a couple of new rocket casings which they ordered i is july and they plan to Start machining them shortly the source said. We Are very sceptical of How much redesign has been done. It s Loo much of the same old stuff he said. They Haven t really broadened their Hori on very  better Seal one commission source said the Marshall redesign includes a capture feature an internal mechanism de signed to provide a better sen i for the joints by holding the of rings in place. Failure of the joint is being blamed  Jan. 28 explosion that destroyed challenger and killed is seven Crew members cold overnight temperatures Are thought to have contributed to failure of the seals which allowed hot gases inside the rocket to Burn through the casing. You be got to have a Basic new design one Ihal in t sensitive to temperature one that in t sensitive to joint rotation or mating  the source said. Joint rotation is the term for u bulge that develops when the rocket is ignited mating deformities occur when the huge round rocket segments become slightly flattened be fore they a re slacked on top of each other. Whit Worth had to know buyers Walker says san Francisco a spymaster John Walker has testified that former Navy radioman Jerry Whitworth must have known he was spying for the soviet Union even though Walker never told him winding up seven Days of testimony thursday As the prosecution s key witness in the trial Walker said common sense would have led Whitworth to conclude that the soviets were the buyers of the sophisticated Navy code secrets he was providing. A would make no sense Ihal a Friendly government or a criminal Clement would buy cryptographic material Walker said. Walker said that Only inc United Lutcs and the Sovil Union had the expertise to use code breaking information und equip ment of he Type that he says Whitworth gave him. Whitworth is charged with Selling secrets to Walker for $332,000 with the knowledge and Isle Nikon that the material would be relayed to the soviet Union. The prosecution contends however that it is not re tired to prove Whitworth knew who the buyers of inc document is were. Questioned by defense attorney James Larson Walker conceded he was not an expert on the decoding abilities of other countries. He also said that despite his conclusion about what while Worth knew he never an swered truthfully when Whitworth asked him six or seven limes where the information was going. You never told him declared Larson his voice rising because you knew based on Jerry Whitworth s character and your knowledge of him that he would have quit the operation immediately if you would have told  i Don t think so Walker replied. Walker a retired Navy chief warrant officer pleaded guilty last october to spy ing for the soviets and agreed to testify against Whitworth his longtime Friend and Allej de recruit. Walker faces a life sentence with parole possible in 10 years. He said thursday that he expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. In other testimony Walker said he was paid �1,000 to join the Kun Klu Kean in 1979 As an infiltrator and he served As the group s organizer in Virginia for three months. Walker said he was approached about joining the klan by a clean Cut conserva Tive Man whom he believed to be from the Fri or the naval intelligence service. I thought it was a joke originally Walker said. Walker said klan Leader Bill Wilkinson was an old Friend he had known since they had served together in the Navy in 1565. Walker said he was paid to join the klan to provide names of members and to an Alyze the strength of the Virginia klan