sjb (06/29/82)
As Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield put the Columbia into a node down position today, the ship began to experience torque movements in the forms of pitching and rolling. However, they were very minor and in some cases even corrected themselves. Officials are curious but not at all worried. They say there is plenty of steering fuel, even with the apparent leak in a steering jet, to keep righting the ship throughout the flight. Meanwhile, the astronauts continued to grapple with the Getaway Special, the first of its kind, aboard. So far, attempts to activate it have failed, but they are to make another try today. As for the SRB's, the ships UTC Liberty and Freedom marked the spots where the two empty booster casings are lying on the ocean floor and returned to port with some small parachutes and the top nose cone of each booster. NASA is speculating that the parachutes, since they were not jettisoned, filled with water and dragged the boosters down. They would like to get them back, but a spokeswoman today said that those prospects were dim.