American Notes SPACE

As spectators cheered, a 600-ft. tongue of bright orange flame scorched a Utah hillside last week. Jubilation was in order: the firing marked the first full- scale test of the space shuttle's revamped solid rocket booster since last year's Challenger explosion. After a government commission pinned the tragedy on faulty seals in the booster, manufactured by Morton Thiokol, the company returned to the drawing board. Last week's firing, the first of six, tested new electrical heaters and reinforcing bands on the booster's joints. "We've taken a real bashing by the press," said Morton Thiokol Engineer Allan McDonald, who heads the redesign. "This proves we can do things right."

NASA, however, remains sensitive about its treatment by the news media. The agency is trying to scotch an ad campaign sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Advertising Council that features a picture of the Challenger explosion. Beneath the photograph are the words, "If the press didn't tell us, who would?" Protested NASA Public Affairs Director Shirley Green: "Any suggestion that the public would not have learned the reasons for the accident is totally inaccurate."