[net.columbia] Second Engine Almost Shut Down

alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (07/30/85)

Minutes after Engine Number 1 shut down yesterday, a temperature
sensor on the right main engine also began to show overheating.
As the backup sensor came on to verify the reading, NASA instructed
the crew to shut down the sensors and override the automatic
shutdown of that engine; fortunately, the temperature never
got high enough that that would have happened anyway.  However,
loss of a second engine at that point would have forced the
Challenger to attempt an emergency landing on the island of
Crete, and, as NASA put it, they probably would have ended
up ''in the water.''  When EN1 shut down, the ship was 33
seconds past the TAL (Trans Atlantic Abort (to Spain)) point.