The Nation - News from Oct. 19, 1988

NASA summoned experts from California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fix minor fire damage to the lab’s $216-million Magellan spacecraft, slated for launch toward Venus from a space shuttle next April, officials said. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration blamed the flash electrical fire on a technician who plugged a connector into the wrong receptacle. Smoke and a 2-to-3-inch flame spurted from a spacecraft battery in the incident Monday night, Magellan project official Vince Wirth said. The fire caused a short that damaged the battery, wire harness and insulation blankets near the battery, Wirth said.