Panel Told of Rockwell Fear About Launch

The company that manufactures spaceplanes warned NASA hours before Challenger’s launch that it could “not assure that it is safe to fly” because of ice around the launch pad, an investigative commission was told today.

“I reiterated the statement several times” in a 9 a.m. meeting on launch day with National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials at Cape Canaveral, said Robert Glaysher, vice president of Rockwell International.

But Arnold Aldrich, NASA’s No. 2 shuttle program official, said, while “a concern was voiced” by Rockwell about the ice, they “did not ask or insist that we not launch.”

He added, “If Rockwell had reported to me that they were ‘no go’ . . . I would not have overruled a ‘no-go’ from the Rockwell team” and the launch would have been postponed.

Space Agency Rebuked

Even so, public disclosure of Rockwell’s concerns prompted commission Chairman William P. Rogers to rebuke the space agency. He said the panel didn’t learn of Rockwell’s concerns until two or three days ago, and added, “I’m really surprised and disappointed that we didn’t know about it earlier. I’m surprised it wasn’t volunteered.”

That, in turn, drew a swift defense from Aldrich, who reminded Rogers that he had mentioned the subject in a closed commission hearing several days ago. Rogers said he didn’t believe Aldrich had portrayed it strongly enough then.

Rockwell’s concerns come on top of worries expressed by Morton Thiokol Inc. engineers who work on booster rockets and reinforced doubts expressed by commission members about NASA’s decision to press ahead with launch despite unprecedented cold weather.

Rockwell Officials Speak

The testimony from Rockwell came from four officials, including Glaysher, who said, “We felt we had communicated Rockwell’s position that it was unsafe to fly.”

He recalled for the commission the assessment he delivered to Aldrich on the morning of the launch: “Rockwell cannot 100% assure that it is safe to fly, which I quickly changed to: Rockwell cannot assure that it is safe to fly.”

Aldrich remembered it slightly differently: “While they could not give an unqualified go for launch . . . he did not ask or insist that we did not launch, however.”

But Rogers told Aldrich: “If the decision-making process is such that the prime contractor thinks he objected and says--testifies under oath--that they took a position that it was unsafe to launch and you say that was not our understanding, that shows a serious deficiency in the process.”

Glaysher and other Rockwell officials said they told space agency officials they had never seen ice conditions like those that existed on the night before the launch, and “were in an unknown condition.”

They said they were worried that icicles would come loose from the launch tower during liftoff, hit the pad and ricochet into the spaceplane.