European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Akerso Hal in is hero is a common Bulkhead Between Iho iwo Lanks thai mean that the system had to to pressurized id keep in Safe wide it was on Board fio  dumping fuel in an emergency would require swill Complex  changes which some engineers feared could stress lha thin skinned land causing a leak 01 an explosion or both. We looked at ii carefully and said int to get the planetary missions off and there were Only two Al thai Lime the goal was Worth the risks Marion said. And we would work toward a logical reduction of those risks to where they would be  a said the Lewis Center and general dynamics were doing just thai when the air Force decided it Hod some payloads that could be boosted out of the Inutile by centaurs. Bui it did not need something quite As powerful As the planetary Centaur and Nasa developed a Shorter version 19 Leal Long compared with 29 feet. There was an 80 percent commonality in the two Mahon said. Bui there were different designs and we slowed some work on the planetary programs la Meel the defense department  there also were other technical problems such As a failed valve Hal had 1o be redesigned thai added to Cost overruns and delay. A a result he Laid officials began to worry that they would lose the May 1986 target Dales for launching Galileo and Ulysses. Opportunities to launch both Are available for Only a few Days once every 13 months because of Jupiter s shifting position in relation to the Earlh. Galileo is to orbit Supher while Ulysses is to pass close to Hal plane to use its Gravity Field like a Slingshot to fling it outward toward the Sun. We were beginning to see indications that it was close Mahon said "11 depended upon How much we wanted to waive on in. For example the oxygen vent valve on the Centaur was made of a Teflon coating the Johnson space Center ruled that Teflon and oxygen Are like gasoline and alcohol. They Don t mix so you should not use them. But for these two lights we had a waiver for doing that but subsequent centaurs downstream would  then challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan 28,1966, killing the seven Crew members and there no longer was any Rush to Meel the May launch Dales with a grounded shuttle Fleet. The Rogers commission Hal investigated the Accident said it was caused by hot gases leaking through a ruptured joint in one of fhe shul tie s iwo solid fuel rocket boosters. But to tragedy touched Oil an investigation of safely aspects of All shuttle systems including Centaur. Preliminary testing of the first two Shiue Centaur stages was under Way at the Kennedy space Center in Florida when challenger exploded. Bui Center safely director Marvin l Jones wrote shuttle managers on feb. 10 thai he could not approve advanced testing because a lacked safely verification data from Lewis and general dynamics memos written before the tragedy began to surface. One from Hen shuttle director Jesse Moore said there is a cause for concern and the my As is decisions on the flight hardware Tor our first two missions must be monitored very closely. The shuttle Centaur team should be made aware and sensitive to the potential for increased safely risk due to the individual  of these Fly As is hardware decisions As Well As Overall increased risks in general another from Nasa s aerospace safety advisory panel said the problem of mating the Centaur with the manned shuttle was underestimated by everyone. The system should realize Hal the old philosophy Hal technical perfection is More important than schedule has changed with Galileo and  rep. Edward Markey d-mass., in a letter to Energy Secretary John s. Herring on said the panel s memo would appear to indicate thai safety concerns had or potentially would have become subordinate to mooting schedule  Markey joined other critics who were concerned about the nuclear Power generators that would be used to Power Galileo and Ulysses these radio isotope Thermo electric generators each would carry 48 pounds of plutonium. The Massachusetts congressman in March released previously classified Energy department documents Hal said an explosion of ills shul lie on the launching pad during either of the Centaur planetary missions could under certain circumstances release enough radio Clive material to Conla Minale 336 Square Miles and cause 43 cancer deaths Over a 50-year period. The fallout area includes Disney world the popular tourist attraction 50 Miles West of Cape canaveral and the threat raised the Spe Lerol radiation showering Down on the magic kingdom and Lens of thousands of people in the Park. Disney world certainly does not need a plutonium land Zarkey said Al the time. Disney world Itsell had no comment on the possibility the report said that would be a worst Case scenario and it rated the chances of a plutonium caused cancer death As "10 times less Likely than being killed by  Nasa noted thai nuclear generators had been carried for years aboard most of its planetary missions and on some satellites and never caused a problem. One was recovered intact from the floor of the Pacific Ocean after it survived the explosion of a satellite rocket launch from Vandenberg af6, Calif. The generators Are needed for deep space probes because they Fly so far away from the Sun thai solar cells normally used on satellites to gather solar Power Are not practical. Markey said Nasa s own internal documents called for a thorough investigation of the rocket s say. He referred to a 1963 air Force re porn a said after an abort Trio Centaur is a Verill a comb in not drained of its  the report urged development of a fail Safe system to Jettison the Luel. Mahon said engineers had Confidence in the dump system thai was designed. On March 27, the space Agency s chief Engineer Milton a. Silvera wrote a six Page memo expressing concern thai neither the Lewis Center nor general dynamics had Ever had any experience with manned space missions and therefore had not properly addressed safely issues. He said they were treating Centaur More As a payload than As an integral Par of the Shullie. Sit Vera also said he was worried about the Large number of waivers approved on Centaur flight issues and about the adequacy of Centaur ground tests. He recommended Independent safety analyses and reviews be established to oversee general dynamics end Lewis on safely issues. In Early june congressional leaders applied pressure on Nasa to halt the shuttle Centaur program after an investigation was conducted by the staff of the House appropriations subcommittee. On june 19, the Agency s administrator James c. Fletcher announced cancellation of the project citing safety concerns. Although the shuttle Centaur decision was very difficult to make it is the proper thing to do and this is the Lime to do it he said. Would the two planetary flights have flown in May with the centaurs aboard if challenger had not exploded officials said probably not because the centaurs probably would not have been ready. But Mahon said he believed Centaur eventually could have been made a Sale vehicle. There s a whole engineering Community Tysl ays with enough time and dollars you can make it Sale to Fly a said. But you have to understand we re in the emotional aftermath of challenger can anything be salvaged Mahon said Nasa has offered to Transfer the completed flight hardware to the air Force for use As upper stages on the new Titan 4 rocket it is developing. The rockets would require significant modification to fit atop  4s, but Mahon said such things As the engines guidance systems computers and inertial reference packages Are usable. What about Galileo Ulysses and Magellan the sorts of missions Hal scientists and youngsters like to dream about of course we re disappointed Wilh the delays said Frank Bristow of Nasa s Jet propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Calif. He said Galileo Sci enlists Are particularly upset because that probe originally was to have been launched in 19b2. They re All exciting missions Bristow said Ulysses which is a european built spacecraft will give us our first look at the Polar regions of the Sun and its study of the Sun s radiation magnetic Field Sunspot and the solar wind could provide important clues to the relationship Between Sun and Earlh. The Magellan Mission will map the entire surface of the planet Venus for the first Lime and Tell us much about that mysterious  Galileo is viewed As far More than just another Jupiter Mission it is to be an exploration of an entire planetary system said Terence v. Johnson Galileo project scientist it the Jet propulsion Laboratory. For the first Lime Man will be Able to study in detail the Phenomena of the planet Jupiter itself and also of its orbiting  Galileo is to orbit Jupiter and drop he first probe into the Jovian atmosphere. Discussions have been held with the air Force about using a Titan 4-Cenlaur rocket for the three missions but Mahon said Hal it is More Likely All three will be launched from shuttles using upgraded inertial upper stages. A recently released shuttle Manifest lists All three payloads for launches in 1989 and 1990. If that decision holds rep. Markey or some other congressman or group is Likely to once again raise the question of those nuclear generators. 16,19b7 the stars and stripes Page 15