European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes wednesday november 11,1987 stateside Kentucky Plant expansion scheduled by Toyota Georgetown by. Up Toyota motor manufacturing ., monday announced a 1300 million expansion of ils Central Kentucky Panl including the addition of a facility to produce engines axles and steering components. Toyota s investment in Kentucky As a result of these new operations will exceed $1.1 Bil lion said Kaneyoshi Kusunoki Toyota  President at a news conference at the facility construction she. Kusunoki said the expansion would add 500 employees to the planned work Force for the Auto Assembly facility in Scott county now expected to number 3,500 employees. Homeless rights activists Start hunger strike in . Washington a homeless rights activist Mitch Snyder and 10 others monday began a hunger strike they Hope will bring Down a Fence erected to keep destitute people Frodo sleeping in a subway station near the White House. The group stood in a Circle before  Banne that read bring Down the Gate of shame As they Sang prayed and read passages from the Bible then they symbolically broke bread and drank from a cup of water to begin the fas. Denial of rights claimed by activist Abbie Hoffman Doylestown a. A activist Abbie Hoffman says he was denied his rights when election officials voted not to allow i Absentee ballot. Hoffman said his ballot cast oct. 27, was disallowed by a 3-0 vote of the Bucks county elections Board monday because of a question about whether he lives Here. For 27 years they be been telling me to work within the system Hoffman said. What Mes Sage arc you sending out to this country that you can t Vole i did everything that every official said. I went through a rainstorm 40 Miles to vote Teddy bears help police soothe traumatized kids Springfield Iii. Up what could be More comforting than a Teddy Beai the venerable stuffed animals Are being used by a growing number of Illinois police depart ments to soothe Young children traumatized by an Accident or violent  Telephone pioneers of America with 6,600 Long term or retired Telephone company workers in Illinois Supply the cuddly toys to police in Springfield Champaign Rock Island Moline and  Sparks a member of the group said the program was originated in Illinois about n year ago to help youngsters caught in traumatic circumstances. Missouri River Bridge closed by bomb threat St. Charlesmo. A an interstate 70 Bridge Over the Missouri River was closed Mon Day during Rush hour because of a bomb threat but no bomb was found on the eight Lane Struc Ture police said. Test of minuteman ii ends in fireworks at Vandenberg Vandi Inbro apr. Calif. A a minus can i missile created spectacular fireworks Over inc Cali fornia coast when air Force officials pushed the destruct Button seconds after launch causing it to explode. The aborted launch which also sol a Brief Brush fire did not represent a major setback to the lest launch program but no immediate details were available on the reason for the launch failure. An air Force official counted Down the seconds to the launch via Telephone to the associated i four trix iwo one. I guess it has bunched. Wail. Oops. I m going to have to Call you  the official said before hanging up. Witnesses watching from outside the base said they spotted fiery debris at the launch site. It started running pretty much parallel with the ground and exploded almost immediately said Jon Bull a passenger on a United airlines flight from san Jose to Santa Barbara who watched the spectacle As the Airliner passed inc area of inc launch ?.onc. Ii was like the very largest fireworks you be Ever seen in your  monday s explosion started a 20-Acrc Brush fire on inc base that was brought under control within about an hour said air Force la. Gary Motey. There were no injuries and there was no apparent major damage la the underground launch pad officials said. Immediately after liftoff at 6 10 p.m., Range safety officials transmitted a Destine signal seconds after it left inc North Vandenberg launch facility said . Darryl Gehly. Base officials estimated that the missile had climbed Only a few Hundred feel into the air before it was blown up. T it was about As High As the Mountain Here which Are not very High Morey said. The explosion warlike fireworks on the fourth of july though there was t much of a bang. I was surprised the scheduled 30-Minule night would have taken the rocket 4,200 Miles Southwest to the Kwajalein mis Sile Range in the South Pacific. The launch was the 161st in a series of strategic air come operational test launches of the weapons sys tem. Morcy said future launches would not be affected and the failure was not considered a major setback an air Force spokeswoman at the coastal base 125 Miles Northwest of los Angeles could provide no immediate details on Why the launch failed. We aborted the launch because of an anomaly said a 1 a. Ann Marie Townsend. The three stage rocket was shipped to Vandenberg from the 44lh strategic missile Wing at Ellsworth fab . Booster rocket Success gives Hope for getting shuttle Bock on track new rocket test firing at Brigham Oil Utah. Brigham City Utah up the . Space program took another step toward getting inc shuttle Back on track with a successful lest of new Booster rockets designed to prevent a repeal of the challenger disaster officials  s Brief rocket Booster firing involved a worst Case scenario and was described As a severe lest of the new design of crucial Rockel joints. Engineers purposely built flaws into joints to Lei hot Gas leak through insulation and reach the primary of ring Seal in the lest Al Morion Thi Okol s Northern Utah Plant exhaust Gas in the other joint was allowed to reach an Interior ring to test design changes implemented following last year s explosion of Floc challenger. It was apparently very successful said Thi Okot spokesman Rocky Raab following the lust. Visual indications Are that the joint did not leak Al least to the outside. Well have to tear ii apart now to find out How far. In fact inc Gas got  of ring joint failure on a right Side Booster Rockel allowed superheated exhaust gases to leak through and ignite challenger s external fuel tanks 73 second after liftoff Jan. 28,19b6, killing All seven Crew members. Monday s lest was the sixth in a series of Small Booster firings to ensure design changes will allow the shuttle discovery to lift off As scheduled a Cal june. The flaws Are put in the worst possible Case to generate the worst possible Thermo environment Pecan analytically predict said Royce Mitchell manager of Nasa s solid Rockel motor redesign project Al Marshall space flight Center Huntsville Ala. Everything looks Good another Success on the Way 10 a flying the vehicle Mitchell said. The test featuring two fuel segment joints and ju�370 pounds of propellant was extremely severe Raab said since it featured defect Alop defect. Bui the severity is needed he said to show the new joint design will hold up to inc tremendous pressures at launch when half a Ion of solid fuel propellant is used. The second reason is to demonstrate that the joint is extremely fault tolerant that even if you have leaks in s still going to Seal he said. Canaveral on verge of new heyday official says Cash canaveral Fla. A an air Force official predicts that within two years the annual launch rate Here will climb sharply to eight or nine space shuttles and 12 to 15 unmanned rockets. We re on inc threshold of a new hey Day Here with both shuttles and expendable launch vehicles in s going to gel etch ing around Here col. Lawrence l. Gooch. Who Heads the Eastern space an missile Center told reporters monday. Gooch s command includes the Cape canaveral ass where expendable Rock ets civil and military Are launched. Space shuttles Are launched from the and a Accel Kennedy space Center operated by the National aeronautics and space administration launch activity has been Light since the explosion of the space shuttle Chal Lenger nearly two years ago and the grounding or most of the nation s space rockets for months because of various problems last year. But Gooch said activity will accelerate now that the air Force s Titan 34d, the United Stales most powerful unmanned space Booster is Back in business and a new generation of rockets is coming on line. Activity also will be stepped up by a surge in commercial space launch Ven Tures he added. The Delia one of the once grounded rockets is flying again and the successful oct 26 flight of a Titan 34d from Van Denberg fab calif., was a big lift end ing is months of Down Lime for it. The Titan 34d is used primarily for boosting Lar a military reconnaissance communications and missile Early warn ing satellites into space. One of these rockets is on a Cape canaveral launch pad and Gooch said the air Force Hopes to launch it into space this month