Shuttle’s Engines Fired Up 11 Days Late but Full of Life : The Crew’s Ready to Fly, NASA Says

In a thundering trial by fire, space shuttle Discovery’s three main engines roared flawlessly to life today, 11 days late, in a “super” 22-second unmanned test-firing marking a giant step toward the first post-Challenger flight.

“It was a great success today,” said Rear Adm. Richard Truly, chief of the shuttle program. “The crew is ready to fly. The launch team is ready to count the vehicle down. We’re just itching to get this flight out of the way so we can get on to the next one.”

NASA is pushing to launch Discovery Sept. 29 or a few days earlier, but Truly, while clearly elated at preliminary results of the engine firing, said a firm launch date for the first post-Challenger mission will not be set until after a deliberately flawed test booster is fired in Utah next week.

Second Attempt

In NASA’s second attempt in six days to pull off the critical engine firing, the 12-million-horsepower engines flashed to life in a staggered burst of orange flame at 7:30 a.m. and quickly throttled up to 100% power in the first such launch pad firing since Challenger blew up 2 1/2 years ago.

As engine operation stabilized, the 6,000-degree exhaust changed to a pinkish, almost transparent, fire that instantly vaporized torrents of launch pad cooling water, sending a billowing cloud of steam thousands of feet into the Florida sky.

Gulping more than 1,000 pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket fuel a second during the critical “burn,” the three engines were shut down, one at a time, beginning about 19 seconds after ignition. The first engine to be started, main engine No. 3, was the last to be shut down at about 22 seconds.

Trying for September

“We have a shot at the end of September,” NASA Administrator James Fletcher said after the test.

In a brief talk to tired launch crews, Fletcher said, “Congratulations on a super job by a super team.”

Discovery was attached to the launch pad by four giant bolts at the base of each of its two solid-fuel boosters and elaborate computer safeguards were in place to make sure the spaceship stayed put on launch pad 39B.

The firing appeared normal, but complete results awaited close analysis of test data from $1.4 million worth of instrumentation and sensors. Good results would preserve a slim chance for NASA to launch Discovery in the last few days of September, an option most engineers believe will ultimately slip away as inevitable problems crop up closer to launch day.

Booster Test Next Week

In any case, Truly and Fletcher agreed that a formal launch date would not be announced until after the booster test-firing next week, the fifth and final such test before Discovery’s blastoff.

The engine firing was 11 days behind schedule, but it nonetheless marked a critical milestone on the road to resuming shuttle flights.

The engine firing was a crucial step for resuming space flight.

“It is an opportunity to assess the readiness of the launch team, the ground support equipment and flight hardware,” said NASA spokesman Hugh Harris, reporting on the progress of the test. “It provides another measure of the readiness of people and hardware for launch after many months of assessing and improving the entire shuttle program.”