Word: nasa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
WASHINGTON -- Top NASA officials who gave the go-ahead to launch the ill-fated Challenger mission were never told of a low temperature reading of 7 to 9 degrees on the shuttle's right booster rocket prior to liftoff, according to the space agency...
William Rogers, chairman of the presidential commission investigating the accident, called Donald T. Regan, the White House chief of staff, and said he was "appalled" to learn that key information about the shuttle's condition hadn't reached top NASA officials, according to the Post...
...presidential commission has been given four months to report on its findings to both NASA and Reagan. Its investigators, as well as those of NASA, will examine the more than twelve tons of debris recovered from the Atlantic Ocean east and north of Cape Canaveral. The partly intact casings of both boosters apparently have been located on the ocean floor, although their positions and high seas last week hampered their certain identification and recovery. While both rockets had been reported blown up by radio signals within 30 seconds of the accident, NASA belatedly explained that only the nose cones...
...NASA officials refused to confirm or deny reports that a large section of the crew compartment had been located. Some photo analysts contend that what appears to be parts of the shuttle can be detected emerging from the catastrophic fireball just after the blast (see photo). The official reticence was understandable. Any such speculation would raise the grim possibility that death was not as mercifully quick for the stricken astronauts as has been widely assumed. Still, however painful the results, the search for all such evidence has to be pursued if the mystery of Challenger's demise...
...most immediate impetus for the development of the jet is military: the space plane could carry Star Wars nuclear defense weapons into orbit. It is also designed to compete with NASA's space shuttle, lifting payloads into orbit for less than $100 a pound. That would be a bargain compared with the shuttle's fee of $2,000 a pound...