alb@alice.UUCP (10/09/83)
Unexpectedly high damage to one of the SRB's on STS-8 could force the postponement of STS-9 until next year. On the ascent of Challenger in late August, the exhaust from the booster eat through the booster's protective lining to within .2 inches of the nozzle itself. If it has broken through the nozzle, the shuttle would have gone out of control. The boosters, which are being reused from previous flights, are refurbished by Morton-Thikol, Inc., which reported the damage to NASA late last month. Agency officials decided to go ahead with the rollout of Columbia to the pad and carry on simultaneous investigations of the problem. If the launch is delayed more than a few days, it would have to be postponed until February, 1984, due to seasonal requirements for some of Spacelab's experiments. Getting a new set of boosters would take several weeks.