European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Criticism of i retirement called  2 Good disregarding Cost of Star wars critics say Page 5 n Dick Williams named manager of Seattle mariners Page 21 the stars and St ripes Utho Mied Runoff Sci. Publication of Tomc . Armed porch vol. 45, no. 24 sunday May 11,1986 is. CT., a 0 8693 a Ori pm Washington a five Days be fore he ill fated challenger launch officials Tor Nasa s problem assessment sys ice decided to worry no longer about serious leaks in space shuttle Booster seals and issued a report that said this problem is considered  documents and 300 pages of transcript released saturday by the presidential Chal Lenger commission show that officials at the National aeronautics and space administration s Marshall space flight Center in Alabama accepted proven leaks in the Booster s primary org seals because they though a backup Seal would hold. The transcript came from a closed ses Sion held by the commission on May 2, when it heard witnesses from the Marshall flight Center and from Morton Thi Okal which makes the Booster rockets. A leak in the right Booster is blamed for the explosion that destroyed challenger and its Crew of seven on Jan.28. When you experienced More than Maxi mum anticipated 0-ring erosion you waived the night constraints and said Well Jim possible to la Crute that we still have b margin left " commissioner Rob Ert Hotz asked Lawrence b. Mulloy head of Marshall s Booster rocket team. Mullay answered yes but said he believed the Seal would hold. Was t there any time in this history or the flight that you or anybody else connected with the solid rocket blaster said. We arc getting things that Are outside our original predictions and should t we Lake a look at it and Slop dying until we be fixed it or have a belter feel for what is actually happening to the joint Holz persisted. Said Mulloy we continually emphasized la the contractor that we need to put More emphasis on resolving this prob Lem. We did not recommend trial we Stop flying-.". A Nasa document released by the com Mission showed the of ring erosion problem indications that hot gases were slipping by the Seal and eating it away had occurred on seven flights and posted a launch con  this meant the problem had to be looked at after each flight and recommendation made for the next flight. The worst erosion of a Seal 171 thousandths or an Inch was seen after a Chal Lenger liftoff on april 29, 1985. For four subsequent flights the record shows the assessment system said the problem posed no  Jan. 23. The report noted studies to improve the Seal would continue but this problem is considered  five Days later challenger exploded. There is no signature on the report. Meanwhile inc failure of a fourth Type of . Space vehicle this year has come to Light. The associated press Learned Friday that a smal Nasa research Racket mis fired april 25 Over the . Army missile Range in Whit Sands , while not an Accident of the magnitude of the Jan. 28 explosion that consumed inc space shuttle challenger the Small Nike Orion Hud a record of 120 straight successes a scientist working with Nasa said. It followed failures in the formerly reliable Nasa Delta and air Force Titan rockets. Also on Friday Nasa acquiesced to the demand that outside experts be called in for inc Booster redesign. Sources familiar with the some lint