Faulty booster possibly rocket disaster clue

Press, 4 February 1986, Page 3

Faulty booster possibly rocket disaster clue

NZPA-Reuter Cape Canaveral A space agency board of inquiry has resumed its probe of the shuttle disaster amid growing evidence linking a flawed solid rocket booster to the fiery explosion of the spaceship Challenger. Mr William Graham, the space agency’s chief administrator, has said that investigators were studying the possibility that Challenger’s rightside booster rocket failed at or near a seam between two segments.

Newly released photographs show a jet of flame from the lower side of the right booster only 14 seconds before an explosion destroyed Challenger, killing its seven crew members.

While suspicion focused on the 50-metre booster as the cause of the Challenger disaster, an official space agency report has came to light with allegations of shoddy workmanship at the booster processing plant at Cape Canaveral.

The report stated that a space agency inquiry into

an accident last November involving Challenger’s left booster found inexperienced, unmotivated workers using faulty equipment at the sprawling facility, operated by Morton-Thiokol Corporation.

A space agency spokesman, Mr Joe Greene said “the booster segment was never used. It is now awaiting disposition”.

The shuttle’s twin rocket boosters, the largest rocket motors yet built, have come under intense scrutiny since last week’s space tragedy.