jck@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Chuck Kesler) (09/30/88)
I guess it's been pretty much established that something resembling flames appeared to be spurting from somewhere near the nozzle on the left SRB. I noticed this during the launch this morning, but I didn't even want to think about it at the time-- I was too into the launch. Since it was so close to the main plume, I just sort of told myself that there was no way that could cause any problems. But now the more I think about it, the worse seems. Anyway, the official word from NASA, or it at least from the 11 o'clock news, is that when the boosters were recovered, no anomalies were seen, and that the "flames" could have been an optical illusion. Didn't look like an optical illusion, though. Great. But I sure hope was. Did everybody see the pictures of the Soviet shuttle on the news this evening? The orbiter part looked almost exactly like our orbiter, minus the main engines. Of course, the scale was a bit hard to determine from the pictures; it looked as big as ours, but I was under the impression that theirs was quite a bit smaller. Hmm, maybe NASA can sue the Soviets on the basis of "look and feel"... < H U < |< jck@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu -or- chuck@ncsuvm.bitnet