The Nation : Quayle Says Shuttle Payload No Hazard

Vice President Dan Quayle said the flight is no more dangerous than any other, and that he plans to “go down and see the launch” in person, but anti-nuclear activists vowed to file suit to block the Oct. 12 launch of the shuttle Atlantis and its plutonium-powered payload. Atlantis’ crew flew to Washington to meet with Quayle, chairman of the National Space Council, where Quayle and his wife, Marilyn, hosted breakfast for them. The vice president said the Galileo space probe’s atomic generators are safe, and that “there’s no reason to have this concern. We just completed a very successful Voyager 2 expedition.” The probe’s electricity is provided by plutonium-powered generators and anti-nuclear activists claim the flight should be grounded because of the threat of a radiation release in the event of a shuttle launch catastrophe or an accidental re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.