Word: boosterism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Whether or not the next test succeeds, other problems threaten to slow the countdown. Massive solid-fuel booster rockets like those on the shuttle must undergo a critical test, scheduled for Aug. 20 at the Morton Thiokol facility in Utah; the failure of a seal on a booster was responsible for the Challenger disaster. In addition, Discovery has a pressure-vent-line leak in one of its orbital maneuvering system engine pods, which came to light several weeks ago. NASA says repairs to the OMS pod, which involve cutting through a bulkhead, could delay the launch anywhere from a week...
...shuttle program also must pass another key propulsion test before Discovery can be certified for flight: a fullscale firing, the fifth in a series, of the redesigned solid fuel booster rocket at the Morton Thiokol plant in Utah. It is scheduled about August...
Even in those days, when Atlanta's stature was based on the access it afforded to places like Valdosta and Meridian and Demopolis, it had what you might call international aspirations. When I was in the company of civic boosters, they would begin by telling me about how many FORTUNE 500 companies were represented in the city and how much higher in altitude and more westerly in longitude it was than anyone might have imagined -- anyone, they must have meant, who had never met an Atlanta booster. Then, if there was a lull in the conversation, they would sometimes...
...major milestone in the shuttle's flight readiness will come in mid-July, when Discovery's three modified main engines will be fired in unison for the first time. A few days later will come the final test of a booster by Morton Thiokol, the builder. Some of the three synthetic-rubber O rings (increased from two on previous rockets) that seal the booster's joints will be purposely flawed to see how well the rings can prevent the kind of leakage that triggered the Challenger explosion. Based on the outcome of the tests, NASA will decide on a precise...
Thiokol's stated rationale is to concentrate on correcting flaws in the current booster model, which will be phased out starting in 1994. Company officials may also have concluded that Congress would be reluctant to award another contract to a company that was partly to blame for the 1986 explosion that killed seven passengers...