Engineers Race to Get Shuttle Set for Launch
Balky launch pad equipment forced engineers into a race against the clock Friday to ready the space shuttle Challenger for blastoff Monday.
Technicians assessing the trouble with ground equipment and other launch processing delays held meetings throughout the day to decide whether to start Challenger’s countdown this morning.
Blastoff for the 19th shuttle mission is scheduled for 12:23 p.m. PDT Monday. An attempt to launch the Challenger on July 12 failed because of engine trouble.
NASA spokesman Jim Ball said engineers decided Friday to proceed toward starting the countdown on time despite a heavy load of unfinished work at the launch pad.
But, depending on how the work proceeds, engineers could be forced to put the countdown on hold tonight or Sunday to allow time to handle unfinished tasks. In that case, the launch probably would be delayed until Tuesday.
Shuttle commander Gordon Fullerton, co-pilot Roy D. Bridges Jr. and crewmen F. Story Musgrave, Anthony England, Karl Henize and civilian astronomers Loren W. Acton and John-David Bartoe planned to fly from Houston to Florida early today.
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