[net.columbia] Actuator Thought to be Problem

alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (07/14/85)

NASA said today that technicians believed yesterday's abort
to be due to a faulty actuator on a hydrogen cutoff valve.
The actuator will be removed Sunday for extensive testing,
and NASA officials will meet Monday to decide how to proceed 
-- whether to set another launch date or move the Challenger
off the pad and delay its mission indefinitely.  Timing becomes
critical now.  Columbia is scheduled to arrive at the Cape
on Sunday, marking the first time all four shuttle have
been at the space centre.  Atlantis is due to be moved into
the VAB this week for mating with SRB's and ET and then
moved to the launch pad for a flight readiness test firing
(lasting 20 seconds) on 30 July.  If Challenger's launch
is set for later this month, that firing will be delayed,
thereby postponing Atlantis' maiden mission, now set for
mid-September.  Discovery is due to launch on 24 August;
its mission will be to deploy three communications satellites
and attempt to rescue to the stranded Syncom satellite.
The launch window for that mission is only four days
wide.  Columbia's next launch, its first after its
recently completed overhaul, is set for December.