European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a a the stars and stripes monday june 25, 1990 space news baffling shuttle leak stirs questions by the Washington Post Washington a More than three weeks ago a massive leak in a line carrying liquid Hydrogen fuel halted the launch of the space shuttle Columbia. Since then the leak has puzzled Nasa engineers and raised questions about testing procedures Quality control and the possible existence of other flawed shuttle hardware. Engineers cannot explain How the leak sneaked past their multiple barricades of tests and inspections. They have not found its location and do not know what caused it. The suspect part which carries fuel from the huge external tank to the orbiter s main engines had passed batteries of tests and inspections Over a six year period including an examination of its valve with a tiny camera. The incident has evoked chilling echoes of patterns that had developed before the 1986 challenger Accident. For example when the columbian a Hydrogen line connector was first tested in 1984, a leak appeared. The test conditions were then altered so the hardware could be approved. National aeronautics and space administration records show that 33 of the 60 connectors tested to Date failed in their first tests but that the test method was changed to allow the part to pass. And As before the challenger engineers frequently cite the record of successful flights As a basis for Confidence in the fuel line connectors. Similar tendencies were condemned by the presidential commission that investigated nasal a handling of problems with Leaky of ring seals a parts also intended to contain explosive propellants a whose flaws caused the loss of the challenger and a Crew of seven. Some officials acknowledged that the current Case sounds like a pre challenger think but asserted that it is not. In fact nasal Stop decision makers Many former astronauts recently won Praise from an Independent panel of safety advisers for their a painstaking approach in deciding to Roll the Columbia Back to its hangar delay its astronomy Mission by at least two months massively reshuffle shuttle hardware and generally hold fast to the Post challenger Credo of a safety Over  still the leak and other recent glitches have raised concerns about nasal a ability to assure Quality and reliability As Well As avoid disaster. George Rodney head of nasal a office of safety and Mission Quality set up after the challenger investigation to be an internal watchdog said a most Nasa management is very unhappy. And i am very very unhappy that the leak was detected so late in the process. The leak set off alarms on May 29 when it flooded the engine compartment of the shuttle with potentially explosive Hydro a filled Hydro Gen Gas with a win Puipui Xouy v a s As the giant tank was being f half million Gallons of liquid Nyen and liquid oxygen propellants six ours before the scheduled launch. The flaw was apparently in a part of the fuel line known As the a Quick disconnect a a 17-Inch line that carries liquid Hydrogen from the tank through the orbiters belly to Power the orbiters three main engines during ascent. It then separates to let the emptied tank separate from the orbiter. At that Point 17-Inch-wide valves on both orbiter and tank sides slam shut to Seal in any remaining propellant. If a valve shuts prematurely during the climb to orbit the change in pressure would cause a catastrophic Accident. Asteroid photos have astronomers starry eyed by the los Angeles times in an extraordinary stroke of scientific serendipity scientists who happened to have the right instrument at the right time in the right place have captured the first detailed images of an asteroid. And to their amazement the Small object turned out to be two bodies a not one a dancing Cheek to Cheek across the solar system. Because most asteroids Are very Small and far away from Earth the Only photographic record of asteroids consisted of faint streaks captured during Long exposures of the nighttime sky. A this is the first two dimensional image of an asteroid a said Steven j. Ostro of the National aeronautics and space administrations Jet propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena calif., Lead author of a report that will be made in Friday s Issue of the journal science. Moreover the twin bodies could explain Impact craters on the Moon that seem to have occurred simultaneously. The fact that Ostro and his colleagues were Able to capture 64 images of the asteroid last aug. 22 is nearly miraculous. The asteroid discovered Only 13 Days earlier by Cal tech astronomer Eleanor Helin just happened to be in exactly the right place at the right time while Ostro had four Days of viewing time already scheduled on the worlds largest radio Telescope in Arecibo puerto Rico. Asteroids Are Rocky objects sometimes called minor planets that dwell mainly in a Belt Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter some however travel into the inner solar system like comets but even then they have been too far away and too Small to be imaged. But last year two asteroids passed unusually close to Earth. Ostro and his team were Able to capture radar images of one of the asteroids just before it made its closest approach. Equally remarkable the asteroid is Only a Little More than a mile in diameter making it the smallest object Ever photographed in the solar system Ostro said. But what is particularly astonishing to Ostro and his colleagues is that the images reveal that the asteroid is two Small bodies and they appear to be touching As they rotate around each other during their Long journey through the solar system. Does that mean that a paired asteroids Are common in the solar system Ostro said he does not know. A is this typical a he asked. A for did we just with a stroke of Luck see something that is extremely rare a it will take several years and improvements that Are now under Way at the Arecibo Observatory for scientists to answer that question. Titan launch a an Intelsat 6 satellite ascends toward orbit saturday in a commercial launch by Martin Marietta. The Telephone and to communication satellite borne skyward by a Titan rocket at Cape canaveral fla., is the same Type As one that was stranded in space in  the deadline gang those were the Days West Springfield mass. Apr they came from across the tracks and the More they were snubbed the closer they became. The immigrant kids Are retired now but they still celebrate their exploits As members of the deadline gang. The Youthful alliances forged during the 1920s and 1930s will be renewed this saturday when the gang a children of immigrants who moved to Western Massachusetts in the 1900s a gets together for a sixth time. The memories come tumbling out when members of the deadline gang recall growing up in a Gritty Railroad town when the Century was Young. For Lester Lamothe it was picking nuggets of usable Coal from the piles dumped at the Railroad Yards. For by Conner it was playing a the whip Quot by hanging on the Back of a Model t spinning across a Frozen River. A a that Sall we had. We did no to have anything big but this neighbourhood was ours Quot said Sam Pompei balding 72 years old but Writh the mischief of youth glinting behind his thick glasses. A this goes Back to the 1920s, and the same feeling toward each other has existed Ever  just How the gang got started is hard to determine members say. A they never had a meeting a formal meeting. It just sort of grew out of Noth some members of the deadline gang gather in West Springfield mass. They Are from left front Row Sam Pompei Flora senk Ann Lefebvre Helen Boido and by Conner and rear Row Ralph Symington John Beger John Dechaine and Lester Lamothe. Ing a Pompei recalled. A when you came through this area we never bothered anybody but we said a done to bother our property. Just behave  a a deadline territory a was just a few blocks bounded by a River Railroad tracks Industrial Yards and a Street. A this was our Back Yard. This is where we played and this is where we fought. We be always stuck together a said Lamothe the 68-year-old chairman of the gangs reunions held sporadically at first but biennial since 1986. Nowadays shopping strips and fast food joints have swallowed up the Fields where the children used to play. And somehow world War ii was the time the last of the deadlines grew up. But even As adults living in a world that no longer revolved around the Railroad and the local ice rink the group held onto its past. Now that retirement has freed their afternoons deadlines still living in their Hometown can often be found at the Dante club a social club housed in what used to be the neighbourhood elementary school a that ones me a a White haired Flora senk said pointing to a 1927 picture of children lined up against the  there was a closeness a Angelo Bettelu recalled. A we were All first generation italians or most of us but it was a Beautiful existence. None of us was hungry