Nasa's Woes Get Worse

For months Jane Smith had refused public comment on how she felt about the mistakes that led to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which killed her husband, Navy Commander Michael Smith, and six other astronauts. Only after release of the harsh conclusions of the Rogers commission did she criticize the "incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life . . . and some very bewildering thought processes" by NASA officials. Last week her feelings became even clearer. It was learned that she had filed a suit seeking $15.1 million from the space agency, specifically naming Lawrence Mulloy, who was then chief of the faulty solid-rocket-booster program. He had argued more forcefully than anyone else against the warnings of others that the cold weather could jeopardize the launch.

Accusing NASA of negligence, the suit charges that its officials "knew or should have known that the segments of the right-hand solid rocket booster would not properly seal and that a catastrophic accident would likely occur." It also claims that in the seconds before flames from the leaking booster blew up the shuttle's main tank, Challenger Pilot Smith "knew of his impending death."

As if to rebut that point, NASA last week belatedly claimed that preliminary analysis of cabin voice recordings shows that "the crew was unaware of the events associated with the tragedy." Said one NASA technician: "The tape ends just like the lights going out." But NASA would not reveal the contents of the taped conversations and said that reporters would have to file freedom-of-information requests to acquire transcripts. (Cockpit conversations in airliner accidents, by contrast, are routinely included in federal investigation reports.) The Smith suit faces two obstacles: survivors of military personnel are barred from suing the Government, and the law creating NASA limits damages to $25,000.

After Smith's suit was reported last week, Mulloy announced that he was planning to retire from NASA at week's end. A 26-year NASA veteran, Mulloy, 52, offered no explanation.

Adding to all NASA's other woes, the Armed Services Committees of the Senate and House appeared ready to prevent the Air Force from paying the space agency a scheduled fee of $566 million for military space launches that have now been put on indefinite hold. Both NASA Administrator James Fletcher and Air Force Secretary Edward Aldridge hope to block this cut, which Fletcher contends would inflict "additional injury" on the U.S. space program.

The resumption of shuttle flights, moreover, will be delayed into 1988. NASA conceded that its optimistic target date of July 1987 will not be met because the redesign of the boosters is proving more complicated than expected. Explained John Thomas, manager of the rocket-design team: "With so much at stake, we're going to take all the time that's required."

The redesign problems will prolong the severe limitations on America's ability to place critical spy satellites into orbit. But a senior Air Force space surveillance officer insisted, "We're not blind up there, not by a long shot." The U.S., he explained reassuringly, has Atlas-Centaur and various versions of Titan rockets "tucked away somewhere" that could be used if the need becomes acute. Said he: "We're O.K." That was the only upbeat note of the week on America's continuing space troubles.