sjb (08/07/82)
NASA officials have decided to go ahead and recover parts of the two SRB's that sank after the launch of STS-4. Underwater cameras showed that the boosters had broken up on impact. One of the pieces is a 40-foot long section that contains a flight recorder. The other booster was more broken up, the biggest piece being a 6-by-8 foot section containing a stiffener ring and at least two parachutes. NASA says that they do not expect any of the parts to be reusable, but they hope they will shed some more light on why the SRB's sank after hitting the ocean.