Launch Expert Opposed Liftoff to the Very End

The ill-fated launching of the space shuttle Challenger took place in the face of a strong objection by a Rockwell International Corp. executive who once served as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s director of launching operations at Kennedy Space Center, informed sources said Wednesday.

The protest, the sources, said was made by Rocco Petrone, president of Rockwell’s space transportation systems division. Petrone was described as being “astonished” when he learned that preparations were proceeding for the Jan. 28 launching even though temperatures were below freezing.

A NASA official on Wednesday recalled hearing a conversation in the operations center at the Kennedy Space Center after the launching to the effect that everybody but Petrone had said “go.”

Lead Contractor

Rockwell is the lead contractor on the entire shuttle system and the builder of the 100-ton orbiter.

So far as is known, the investigation has turned up nothing to implicate the shuttle itself in the accident, which killed the seven crew members and brought the American space program to a standstill.

Petrone’s concern was not with the solid rocket boosters, which were a subject of intense debate among NASA officials and engineers for Morton Thiokol Inc., but rather with the possibility that ice on the spacecraft, its external fuel tank or the launching tower adjacent to it could seriously damage the protective tiles on the orbiter’s skin, perhaps jeopardizing its fiery return from orbit.

According to sources familiar with the accident investigation, Petrone was also concerned because NASA had no experience in launching the shuttle at near freezing temperatures.

Left Florida

The Rockwell executive had been in Florida during the weekend before the launching but had returned to Rockwell offices in Downey because of business obligations.

A planned Challenger launching on Saturday had been postponed because of dust storms sweeping an emergency landing site in Africa, and a Sunday morning liftoff was scrubbed when weather forecasters predicted that rain would be sweeping the Kennedy Space Center area at launching time. On Monday, the flight was delayed once again by weather and troubles with the orbiter’s hatch.

An “ice team” dispatched to the launching pad inspected the shuttle shortly before it was given clearance for liftoff, but sources said Wednesday that Petrone did not drop his objections.

Members of the presidential commission investigating the tragedy learned of the Rockwell objections for the first time only last week and called Petrone and other Rockwell officials to testify before an open session of the panel.

Wednesday’s meeting, the fourth day of open testimony, ended after the panel questioned members of the “ice team.” It announced plans to resume today, with Petrone and other Rockwell officials expected to testify.

Won’t Discuss Issues

Neither NASA nor Rockwell officials would discuss the company’s position or prelaunching discussions between the contractor and NASA officials in charge of the launching. Repeated attempts to reach Petrone since the Jan. 28 tragedy have been unsuccessful.

It is not clear whether Petrone had talked directly with NASA officials in the hours immediately before Challenger’s liftoff or if his objections were telephoned to Rockwell representatives at the Kennedy Space Center to be passed on to NASA.

Sarah Keegan, a public affairs officer at NASA headquarters in Washington, said she had been unable to determine who had taken part in the conversations.

When asked whether Rockwell had finally assented to the launching, she said that “it is not customary for Rockwell to sign a statement” clearing the orbiter for flight. But Keegan said she expected to make available today statements of approval by propulsion system contractors.

The statements were signed on Saturday, Jan. 25, after the required “L minus One” review, one of two major assessments required before each launching.

Before joining NASA, Petrone was an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers and while with the corps directed construction of the Kennedy Space Center launching complex.

During his career with the space agency, Petrone served not only as director of launching operations but as director of the Apollo project, associate administrator of manned space flight and as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center.