alb@alice.UucP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (08/25/85)
A failed computer today scrubbed the launch of the Discovery for the second time in as many days, and NASA rescheduled the launch for Tuesday morning, not wanting to put flight and ground crews through three countdowns in a row. The launch period for the rescue of Syncom III ends Wednesday, and if the launch is delayed beyond then, NASA will fly a shortened mission, just deploying the three satellites and forgetting about Syncom, possibly forever. The computer, the backup for the four main computers on the shuttle, showed a fault at T-9 minutes. After dumping and reinitializing it, the fault persisted, and mission control scrubbed the launch. NASA rules forbid a flight from starting with a bad computer, and if it had failed in orbit, an early return to Earth would have been ordered. The failed computer was taken from the Challenger and will be replaced and tested today.