Release Shuttle Crew’s Tape, NASA Ordered

A federal judge today ordered NASA to release within 30 days the cockpit tape-recording of the ill-fated shuttle Challenger crew’s last words.

U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson agreed with arguments by New York Times attorneys that the tape “contains no information about the astronauts or any of their family members” and should therefore be released.

The U.S. government had sought to deny the newspaper’s request for the tape, contending that its release would “cause the families to relive this incident.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has released an edited transcript of what were said to be the last words of the crew over the air-to-ground communication system. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 28, 1986.

All communications, according to the transcripts released previously, stopped when the fireball engulfed the ship, but it is known that the astronauts lived past that point because three air packs had been activated--a task that had to be done manually.