Word: nasa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which killed her husband, Navy Commander Michael Smith, and six other astronauts. Only after release of the harsh conclusions of the Rogers commission did she criticize the "incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life . . . and some very bewildering thought processes" by NASA officials. Last week her feelings became even clearer. It was learned that she had filed a suit seeking $15.1 million from the space agency, specifically naming Lawrence Mulloy, who was then chief of the faulty solid-rocket-booster program. He had argued more forcefully than anyone else against the warnings of others...
...Accusing NASA of negligence, the suit charges that its officials "knew or should have known that the segments of the right-hand solid rocket booster would not properly seal and that a catastrophic accident would likely occur." It also claims that in the seconds before flames from the leaking booster blew up the shuttle's main tank, Challenger Pilot Smith "knew of his impending death...
...rebut that point, NASA last week belatedly claimed that preliminary analysis of cabin voice recordings shows that "the crew was unaware of the events associated with the tragedy." Said one NASA technician: "The tape ends just like the lights going out." But NASA would not reveal the contents of the taped conversations and said that reporters would have to file freedom-of-information requests to acquire transcripts. (Cockpit conversations in airliner accidents, by contrast, are routinely included in federal investigation reports.) The Smith suit faces two obstacles: survivors of military personnel are barred from suing the Government...
...Richard Truly, head of the shuttle program, held a news conference hours after Fletcher delivered to the White House a report on actions NASA has taken since the Rogers commission made nine major recommendations last month...
...said the July 1987 flight resumption, which had been NASA's plan when became administrator two months ago, "was a little optimistic in view of the extensive tests that have to be done on the solid rocket motors before we feel comfortable flying again...