Damaged o-ring in second shuttle
By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -
For the second space shuttle flight in a
row, NASA has found heat damage on
a critical O-ring seal in a rocket booster
used by Discovery this month.
It’s the same nozzle joint in which
the problem occurred on Atlantis,only
this time it’s in the right booster, NASA
said today. * 4
Hot gas from burning rocket fuel
singed the primary rubber seal in the
joint but did not pass beyond the seal.
Neither of the shuttles nor crews were
in any danger, NASA officials said.
Discovery returned safely from a
nine-day science mission Saturday.
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration spokeswoman Lisa
Malone said the damage to
Discovery’s O-ring seal was less than
on the Atlantis booster seal.
Engineers will evaluate all the data i
before recommending whether it’s safe ]
to fly Endeavour next week. 1
A leak in a joint in a solid rocket i
booster caused Challenger toexplode i
shortly after liftoff in 1986. A nozzle
failure in this case could cause the I
shuttle to veer dangerously off course <
during the first two minutes of flight, i
Atlantis blasted off June 27 on the !
first shuttle docking mission with i
Russia’s space station Mir and re
turned July 7. Discovery was launched l
July 13 - at six days the shortest gap i
ever between U.S. human space flights. «
NASA did not leam of the problem l
with Atlantis’ booster until four days i
into Discovery’s flight, prompting
questions about whether the space 1
agency should allow more time be- :
tween missions. i
Shuttle Director Bryan O’Connor i
said managers will decide by early '
next week whether it’s safe to fly the i
shuttles while investigating the O-ring
iroblem, or whether the fleet should
)e grounded until the problem is re
solved. That could take months, he
said.
Seymour Himmel, a Cleveland
>ased propulsion expert and member
>f NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advi
sory Panel, said the problem could be
serious now that it’s been discovered
n back-to-back flights.
“Now that they have two of these
hings, it would lead me to say this is
lot a statistical fluke but a true
inomaly, that there is something po
entially systemic about this,” Himmel
old the Houston Chronicle.
During a launch, the twin 15-story
xioster rockets bum for two of the 81 /
l minutes it takes the shuttles to reach
irbit. The boosters then peel away
ind fall by parachute into the Atlantic
3cean, where they are recovered and
efurbished for future flights.
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