kim@analog.UUCP (Kim Helliwell ) (02/11/86)
The latest news, of yesterday and this morning (2/11/86) is that attention is centering on the rubber ring seals which hold the SRB segments together, and that NASA was aware of problems with these up to 9 months ago. Prefacing my comments with the disclaimer that none of this is yet conclusively proven, I want to ask the following: Is it really possible that NASA, in spite of the pretty obvious record of paranoia when it comes to safety, could just plain ignore warnings about these seals? Is there some other explanation--like, they did know, but thought they had worked out a solution (which unfortunately, wasn't good enough), or they didn't really realize how bad the problem was, or something? Anything whatever in extenuation? My fear is that, if it turns out that NASA whitewashed this problem in their haste to meet the launch schedule, the current investigation will degenerate into a witch-hunt, and the space program will suffer drastically. Somebody please tell me this can't happen (and why it can't, of course!). I really hope the news agencies are just exaggerating a bit! hplabs!analog!kim
knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) (02/18/86)
> The latest news, of yesterday and this morning (2/11/86) is that attention > is centering on the rubber ring seals which hold the SRB segments together, > and that NASA was aware of problems with these up to 9 months ago. > > > Is it really possible that NASA, in spite of the pretty obvious record of > paranoia when it comes to safety, could just plain ignore warnings about these > seals? Is there some other explanation--like, they did know, but thought > they had worked out a solution (which unfortunately, wasn't good enough), or > they didn't really realize how bad the problem was, or something? Anything > whatever in extenuation? > > hplabs!analog!kim My theory has been that there were probably several other reports of trouble spots and impending disasters, and NASA couldn't attend to all of them at once. (OK, so maybe they should have fixed all of them and suspended launches in the meantime, and taken all sorts of heat about "safety paranoia" -- yes, I've often felt they were too cautious myself). More important, there were lots of potentially dangerous shuttle bugs that really happened: liquid engines conking out early, APUs catching fire, fuel cell breakdowns, tire blowout on landing, and last but hardly least to the astronauts, clogged toilets! NASA was probably too busy attending to all those to beef up the SRB seals. Ironically, none of these involved the SRBs, so SRB improvements could have been carried out in parallel with the other fixes. But NASA staff was probably spread too thin (read: manpower shortage == low budget) to give the SRB problem the attention it deserved. Even tho a waiver had been signed that absolved the need for secondary backup seals on the boosters. mike k 104% for manned space exploration "A penny saved is a dead astronaut, someday"
ray@rochester.UUCP (Ray Frank) (02/19/86)
> > The latest news, of yesterday and this morning (2/11/86) is that attention > > is centering on the rubber ring seals which hold the SRB segments together, > > and that NASA was aware of problems with these up to 9 months ago. > > > > > > Is it really possible that NASA, in spite of the pretty obvious record of > > paranoia when it comes to safety, could just plain ignore warnings about these > > seals? Is there some other explanation--like, they did know, but thought > > they had worked out a solution (which unfortunately, wasn't good enough), or > > they didn't really realize how bad the problem was, or something? Anything > > whatever in extenuation? > > > > hplabs!analog!kim > > In this mornings paper 2/19 there were hugh headlines reading: WARNING IGNORED? Apparently a top Morton Thiokol engineer, Allan McDonald, pleaded with Nasa officals for hours not to launch because of low temperatures. He was overuled by his own superior, Joe Kilminster. McDonald said other engineers were largely in agreement with his opinion that the launch be delayed. McDonald also said that at low tempeartures such as those the shuttle was exposed to causes the O ring seals to shrink and stiffen. So in answer to your question, yes, it is quite obvious that Nasa officals did not pay enough heed to warnings from experts, but did pay heed to an experts superior, who by the way, was not stated in the article to be an expert. And finally, the article said that Morton Thiokol had orginally recommended against launch, but for reasons not clear, changed their position. ray