European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Or the Starr and 5tripfr thursday. August 7,19bs shuffle almost launched while Short of fuel Washington a Nasa came within 31 seconds of launching the shuttle Columbia last january without enough fuel to reach its intended orbit because of human error caused partly by overwork and fatigue the Rogers commission disclosed tuesday. The incident occurred on Jan. 6, just 22 Days before the shuttle challenger exploded 73 second after launch killing its seven Crew members Columbia was successfully launched on Jan. 12,after a record seven delays. Among its Crew was rep. Bill Nelson a Fla the second member of Congress to Fly on a shuttle. The first was sen. Jake Gam Rush. The Rogers commission a presidential panel lha investigated the challenger explosion said the Jan. 6 scrub of the Columbia flight resulted when 18,000 pounds of liquid oxygen fuel were inadvertently drained from the shuttle external tank due to opera Tor it said an investigative report on the incident by Lockheed space operations co. Die operator fatigue As one of the major factors contributing to this Inci in an interview. Nelson said he was told about the error and the loss of fuel when it was discovered but 1 Haven t heard about fatigue related to this Nelson said he had been told varying interpretations of what would have happened if we had launched. One person told me we would have gone into a lower orbit than intended. Others said we would have run Oul of fuel before achieving orbit and would have had to make an emergency Landing on a 10,000 foot strip in Dakar Senegal which you Don t Wani to do in a fully loaded shuttle Nelson said he had thanked the operator who was Alert enough to discover the error but if there is worker fatigue Down there it ought to be a x the Rogers commission s disclosure came in a previously unpublished study it made of workloads at the Kennedy space Center in Florida. It concluded there is no system at Kennedy for monitoring overtime from the safely the study blistered the National aeronautics an space administration As Well As Morton Thi Okol inc. And Lockheed the contractors primarily responsible or shuttle launch preparation at Kennedy for excessive overtime multiple shift changes and Long periods without a Day off. Ii said those circumstances rep resent a potential threat to safety and worker effective the workload study was contained in four volumes i of backup materials and transcripts released tuesday nearly two months after the commission s final report was presented to president Reagan. That report concluded that launch site preparation were not a Factor in the challenger explosion. The report made no reference to its study of work loads but the commission said Nasa had agreed thai the study should be published As an appendix. The panel recommended that the space Agency develop a regular overtime audit procedure and place More restrictions on overtime to reduce the risk of worker errors especially that engendered by unanticipated launch Al the time Nasa officials gave a different explanation of Why Columbia s launch was scrubbed 31 seconds from liftoff suggesting that too much fuel had been put into its engine. This actually meant that fuel had been vented from the tank through the engine. Those explanations contained no reference to a fatigue induced console operator error. Nasa spokesman Hugh Harris said. We be previously acknowledged the loss of fuel and the operator error but the fatigue As a cause is new another Nasa spokesman said we recognize this is one of our problems and we Are studying it very carefully. But it is interesting to note that the commis Sion did not include this in their formal recommend the commission quoted the Lockheed report As say ing had the Mission Noi been scrubbed the ability of the orbiter to reach defined orbit May have been signify. Cantly i Arnold Aldrich Nasa s manager of the shuttle sys i Tern said the loss of liquid oxygen could have led to i serious safety of flight consequences had the team 1 elected to proceed with the White House releases Rehnquist documents by the los Angeles times Washington the Reagan administration breaking a deadlock Over executive privilege tuesday agreed tallow Senate judiciary committee Mem Bers to examine Temps and other documents Hal Justice William h. Rehnquist wrote As an adviser to former attorney general John n. Mitchell an former president Richard m. Nixon. The agreement in which sen. Paul Laxalt r-nev., played a key role virtually assures favourable committee action on Rehnquist s nomination As chief Justice and that of judge Antonin Scali Aas an associate Justice unless the documents produce explosive information said sen. Paul Simon Dell. We Are getting Access to All that we asked for said sen. Joseph r. Biden jr., a Del the panel s ranking minority member. The administration is not holding Back president reap invoked executive privilege thursday to withhold the papers which include documents on Mili tary surveillance of civilians the Kent stale University killings wiretapping and mass arrests during May Day anti War demonstrations while Rehnquist headed the Justice department s office fes lion cell Elan the United we Havit had any lems with la Calls which was Onn f our said. The i same As if you in the United Sta that it s working we know be turned do1 opened Aln but that Scard com credit similar the uni six 300, n the Vicant Pray the states " Justus i should be the King into a store1 reports indicate j customers will i Call it s Hap i the future and the credit of Legal counsel from 1969 to 1971. Also covered is the break in by the while House plumbers unit into the office of Daniel Ellsberg s psychiatrist. Justice department officials con tended that releasing the material would Compromise orcs continuing ability to provide objective Legal advice to the executive the turnaround appears to reflect growing administration fears that there were sufficient committee votes to subpoena the material an action that might have touched off a protracted Battle and delayed confirmation. The agreement allows senators and a limited number of aides to examine the document and appears to open the door to similar Access to papers written by Scalia when he served in the same jus Tice department Post during the Gerald. Fora administration. Laxalt a committee member with close ties to Reagan helped Hammer out the agreement in a meeting in the vice president s office Oil the Senate floor a committee members recessed from i hair hearings on the Scalia nomination. One area Likely to draw attention during inspection of the documents is anything Rehnquist wrote on military surveillance of civilian. Rehnquist who bad Given con Gressional testimony on the surveillance Asa Justice department official was criticized for breaking a deadlock and voting with a 5-4 majority As the supreme court rejected a claim thai the program chilled first amendment rights. The breakthrough was made As Scalia in his tint Day of hearings declined to answer a question by sen. Ted Kennedy a mass about whether he would vote to overturn the supreme court s abortion decision but assured senators that hews bringing no Agenda with him to the supreme court. My Only Agenda is to be a Good judge Scalia said brushing aside Ken Nedy s mention of reports that Rehn quist s opposition to abortion figured in his selection by Reagan. The committee made Public tuesday a letter Rehnquist wrote to committee chairman Strom Thurmond r-s.c., acknowledging that he had been told in 1974 of a covenant on a summer Home in Vermont that barred ownership by member of the hebrew when the matter was raised last week by sen. Patrick Leahy Dot Rehnquist said he was amazed to team of the restriction. Which was discovered during a Standar background investigation by the Fri. But on monday Rehnquist sent thur mond a copy of a july 2, 1974, letter from his lawyer David a Willis loan attorney for the seller of the property thai mentioned the restriction As one of those to which the property was subject the Teller carried the notation that a copy had been sent Rehnquist while i do not doubt that 1 read in letter when i received it i did not recall the letter or its contents before i testified last week Rehnquist said in his letter to Thurmond. He added that he instructed Willis last week to take the Legal Steps necessary to remove the covenant from his Vermont title. The restrictive covenant and Ano Lerona Home he once owned in Arizona were revealed during the bearings. Such restrictions once common Are now illegal. Bush from Page 1 fueling Stop Here. He insisted that the atmosphere has improved in the Middle East adding"1 Don t know How you measure Success in the Middle East but i Don t remember Many times when you got three countries to agree on anything together. I m encouraged. The feelings that got from various leaders is that it was very worthwhile he said so i hang my hat on chief of staff Craig Fuller said Bush called israeli prime minister Shimon Peres King Hussein of Jordan and egyptian preside Hosni Mubarak from his air Force Jet to thank them for accepting the wording of his plan and expressed Hope of follow up implementation with out specifying How that might take place. In Washington White House spokes Man Larry Speakes called the trip a very timely Mission we believe the talks have been productive and helpful. And May in the Long run Lead to Progress toward peace Speakes said. The wording of the six Points cited by Bush was the subject of round the Doc consultation with representatives of is Rael Jordan and Egypt. Sources said israeli objections pro longed the negotiations at one Point and confirmed some passages were toned Down to make them acceptable to All four governments. Bush reported finding agreement on the need for negotiated peace thai takes into consideration the Security needs of Israel As Well As the aspirations of the palestinian he offered no consensus solution to the palestinian question and said that Issue must be resolved through negotiations conducted in the context of . Security Council resolutions providing for a guarantee of israeli sovereignly in Exchange for occupied territory. . Officials acknowledged continued disagreement existed Over the . Insistence on fact to face negotiation be tween Israel and its Arab neighbors. Service in eur begun at tates in january stateside Custon a actions Worth a follows ranges in the firs made j16.5 including about 3, f july credit card usage at Exel Inife states had jumped to More in Dion transactions Worth about i. Ilion roughly 10.3 percent of total i us sales according to cafes statistics. Alcohol from Page 1 percent smoke a pack or More a Day. With few exceptions the trends were the same for the defense d and the services individually., numbers use of and drugs was lower us air Force but not after . Adjusted for differ i As rank or income. Beer was the favorite beverage 76 percent of military personnel drank Beer the last month. Marijuana was Mimi there were no recent compared with 1970s fit Trcon Nel jul yrs fef9tonwere Mure Unger civilians 36 percent to 2 j percent to drink an ounce or More alcohol a Day. But troops Over 35 were less Likely than civilians 16 percent to 17 Percenl-21 percent of the same age to drink that much. About 9 percent of military personnel reported using drugs during the previous 30 Days and about 13 percent within the previous year. Use was highest among those in by it Tallis fill a Mem _. Fine Ini the services during 1980. 19812 and three years the sur vey has been taken cigarette smoking wast men those with some College Orra than a High school education and those in pay grades e-4 to �-6. It tended to increase with age
