Word: abrahamson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...flaming bird itself but rather one of Challenger's crew, Sally Kristen Ride. As Challenger headed off on the seventh shuttle mission, a bare 59 milliseconds late, the jubilation was as much for Ride as for the machine. By finally launching what Air Force Lieut. General James Abrahamson, chief of the shuttle program, called with old-fashioned chivalry "the first U.S. lady astronaut in space," NASA gave the shuttle program as much of a popular boost as it could have got from the most powerful new rocket...
...Murray Abrahamson...
...testimony before a congressional subcommittee on science and technology last week, Air Force Lieut. General James A. Abrahamson, NASA'S associate administrator and boss of the shuttle program, said that discovery of the defect was a tribute to the space agency's quest for safety. He might have added that it was also because of an odd bit of luck. In late January, only days before Challenger's originally scheduled liftoff, NASA inspectors discovered that hydrogen was leaking from the No. 1 engine...
...technicians then investigated Challenger's other engines. On Feb. 25 they found a hydrogen leak in the No. 2 engine. A day or so later, the same kind of leak turned up in the No. 3 engine. Faced with this mounting crisis on the eve of a launch, Abrahamson rushed out to the pad, clambered up the launch tower and personally inspected the inner plumbing of the engines. It became clear that NASA's original fix had only exacerbated the problem: instead of preventing chafing during the vibrations at full power, the brazing and extra sleeves had made...
...play havoc with NASA's timetable, postponing the placing in orbit of as many as 30 other satellites. Rescheduling would also stall the launch of Spacelab, Western Europe's contribution to the shuttle program, now listed for a September flight on Challenger. Says one irreverent NASA official: "Abrahamson is praying, 'Engines, heal thyself...