European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Uncertainty Clouds canaveral in Wake of shuttle disaster. Did be Lut Drill the d t. It ind eol the by William j. Broad new York times five months after the challenger explosion major activity at the once bustling spaceport at Cape canaveral has come la a virtual halt crucial projects have been cancelled hundreds of engineers and workers have lost their jobs and those who remain have been wrenched by doubts about whal lies ahead the Shock and Griel that immediate1, Ollo cd the shuttle disaster gradually gave Way to a quiet determination to Lix the program within a year but now. Officials say. In the Wake of congressional and presidential inquiries it has become apparent the shuttles will not Fly again soon perhaps not until 1988 Bob Sieck director of shuttle operations said in an interview the big problem is not the report of the presidential inquiry and the things it criticized it s the an impending danger sick said is that the current Lack of direction might prompt Many of the Center s 10,000 remaining shuttle workers to leave officials Are especially concerned about keeping the critical skilled Core of scientific Talent consisting of several thousand employees. There s not an exodus today Sieck said Bui attrition is higher than Normal and there s still the threat of an exodus " repercussions from the disaster in which the seven challenger Crew members died Jan. 28, have touched every part of the far Flung Empire of the National aeronautics and space administration Bui the blows and delays have been More painful at the Kennedy space Center because it needs firm goals and schedules for the exercise of its skills which Are devoted to the repair refurbishment and launching of the nation s Fleet of shuttles. In contrast astronauts at the Johnson space Center in Houston Are keeping skills Sharp by flying simulated missions into space so too. Light controllers in Houston Monitor the Progress of the make believe missions just As they would real ones. But at Cape canaveral operations came to a halt months ago and recent developments have conspired to increase the uncertainly about when things might get Back to Normal in recent weeks for instance Nasa Headquarters in Washington announced the cancellation of the $674 million Centaur program which was a major locus of activity at canaveral Tenalur Cut because of safety fears was a liquid fuelled rocket meant to launch Large payloads irom the shuttle another Factor is the Uncertain Impact of the Percsi denial inquiry into the shuttle disaster directed by William p. Rogers a former Secretary of state the Rogers report recommended sweeping changes such As the test firing of shuttle Booster rockets in a vertical alignment that could be very significant Factor because there s no existing facility to do said Sieck. Another unknown is what will come from a new round of inquiries. The congressional people Are going to be very open and very Sieck remarked. A final Factor is general anxiety Over whether the White House will Call for construction of a replacement for the challenger. The result of All this Sieck said could be serious delays in the rebuilding and Start up of he nation s $14 billion shuttle program and delays May further discourage the skilled scientists engineers and technicians Here. The Challenge is keeping the work Force productive said Sieck. But with the pure passage of time some people Are just quite frankly going to get tired of waiting and Drift the biggest blow recently was the cancellation of the Centaur program which one official said left its 200 engineers and technicians the Centaur program had three distinct elements at canaveral a test stand for the Centaur engine a program of Centaur modifications to the shuttle Atlantis and to two shuttle launching pads and construction of the Centaur payload operations control facility Centaur was crucial to the Center s morale because it gave people Here something to do for instance the 100-ton Atlantis was to have been rolled from the 52 Story vehicle Assembly building to the launching pad Lor a lest fit of a Centaur and its payload but now. Wilh he Centaur cancellation no exercise of key shuttle skills is on the horizon people were already getting complained an official in the launch control Center and now this " meanwhile officials of general dynamics the main contractor Lor the Centaur program said Lay Olls among its 150 employees at Cape canaveral were inevitable the general downturn in shuttle prospects prompted other local companies to Cut employment United space boosters inc., which helps refurbish shuttle Booster rockets announced in june that 120 of its 680 employees would be Laid off. George Murphy the concern s general manager said in a statement delays in the shuttle s Light schedule give us Little a month after the shuttle exploded space Agency officials announced a 10 percent reduction in shuttle workers cutting 1,100 employees from the 11.000 person program at the Kennedy of re Center the Good news in past weeks Lor Nasa officials at canaveral Here has been the Rogers report. It stated that we generally did our Job in accordance Wilh approved procedures and that nothing we did was a major actor in the Accident Sieck said. Alter reviewing the Rogers report Richard g Smith director of the Kennedy space Center said he planned no shake ups of top managers nonetheless the report has increased uncertainty about when the next shuttle might Fly because it called for a costly new technique to test the shuttle s boosters which were found to be flav d and Are being redesigned. In the past a full sized rocket was held on a horizontal stand As it fired its engine. But the Rogers report called for tests that Are vertical the position in which the rockets fire on the shuttle. Sieck said this recommendation was surprising and possibly unneeded. I be got to believe that the technology exists in this country to come up with an adequate lest Short of a full duration vertical living he said. Despite the presence of much gloom and uncertainly not everything at the Center has come to a halt preparations Are now under Way for the launching in August of an unmanned Atlas Centaur rocket the first tiring Here since the failure of a Delta rocket May 3 that Atlas Centaur will probably gel the most thorough review of any spacecraft we be Ever launched said George Diller a spokesman at the Kennedy space Center. In addition. Sick said that All the flex Bilty in the work schedule meant there was now time for formal training of technicians who in the past had olten Learned skills on the Job. Such training will be critical Sieck said if the Center is to avoid some of the backups that started to plague the shuttle program Here last year. Moreover he said. Astronauts for the first time would Start to teach a Normal course in flight safely. And despite the recent setbacks and uncertainly the staff is forging ahead Here on the three remaining shuttles. Much of this Effort is in making modifications to existing equipment. These changes Are mandated not Only by safety panels but also by engineers who in the past amid an ambitious program of shuttle launching lacked the time to put their Pel projects into effect. The volume and depth of these modifications is so great today that some experts fear the shuttles will be entirely new vehicles by the time they Are ready to Fly and in the shuttle business newness often Means danger. Anytime you change an exist he system especially one that worked Well you be got to be extra sensitive Sieck said. In general officials see this As a difficult time Lor the Kennedy space Center because of the layoffs uncertainty and Low morale. Bui their Long term vision remains unshaken their Hope being that the Center will emerge stronger from the current trials. This is a recovery Sieck said. We re going to clean up our act so that during the next launching we Grade a perfect 10 on Conan men chairman William Roger right with Nell Armstrong a former astronaut at Senate hearing. 6, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 15
