The New York Times and The Associated Press
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Glenn holds a 1/100th scale model of the space shuttle and a 1/10th model of his Friendship 7 craft.
(Michael E. Keating photo)
| ZOOM |
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Behind the excitement of the coming spaceflight of Sen. John Glenn is quiet apprehension about hidden dangers.
Safety experts agree that the space shuttles must run regularly or become balky and their launching crews rusty. But the shuttles have flown little of late. So Mr. Glenn's flight is seen, at least in theory, as unusually risky.
In response, the space agency is taking precautions like having ground crews do many more dry runs meant to sharpen their skills. It says these rehearsals will offset any dangers, though some private experts say the odds of disaster still might be unusually high.
"We've been concerned," Dr. Seymour C. Himmel, a senior member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said in an interview. "When you have a hiatus like this, you have to keep your skills honed."
Dr. M. Granger Morgan, head of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, agreed. "There are concerns whenever an organization that has to perform a high-reliability job stops engaging in continual practice," he said.
Mr. Glenn's blastoff aboard the shuttle Discovery, set for CP:John Glenn
Oct. 29, is to occur after a silence of nearly five months at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is the longest time between shuttle launching attempts since the recovery from the 1986 Challenger disaster, when the spaceships were grounded for more than two years. The first crew to fly after that, in 1988, consisted of all shuttle veterans, mostly former military test pilots used to putting their lives on the line. On Tuesday came what could be cause for further concern in some minds: the announcement that President Clinton will be on hand for the Discovery launch. But NASA insists safety -- not VIP convenience -- will determine whether the shuttle flies.
The last time an American president witnessed a manned space shot, the rocket soared through storm clouds and was hit twice by lightning. Apollo 12 was launched to the moon that rainy November day in 1969, the never-confirmed story goes, because President Nixon was there.
"No way, no way" would NASA launch Discovery just because Mr. Clinton was there, Mr. Himmel said Tuesday. "No, it's going to be within the boundaries that are allowed or it ain't going to go."
The 1986 Challenger disaster is still too fresh in too many minds, Mr. Himmel said.
Rumor had it -- again, never confirmed -- that President Reagan was keen to mention orbiting schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe in his State of the Union address. Ms. McAuliffe never made it to space. She and the six others on board were killed when Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff that icy January morning.
"It's a question of one's perception, but there was a lot of external pressure in my reading of the facts to launch the Challenger that time, and it resulted in some pretty poor decisions," said Mr. Himmel, a retired NASA official. "I mean, if there ever was a lesson learned, it was learned at that time."
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart assured reporters in Washington that NASA will make its own launch decisions next week, based as always on science and safety. "I think we'd have to dig really deep to find something wrong with the president going down and celebrating this great achievement both for NASA and for Senator Glenn," he said.
Besides Mr. Clinton, many members of Congress as well as celebrities and a few thousand reporters are expected at Cape Canaveral to see Mr. Glenn off.
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