The Nation - News from Oct. 4, 1989
NASA managers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida decided to replace a faulty rocket computer with a spare already on hand, keeping the shuttle Atlantis on track for blastoff to fire a nuclear-powered probe to Jupiter, officials said. A traditional two-day “flight readiness review” began Monday at the space center to make sure Atlantis and the $1.4-billion Galileo Jupiter probe are ready for blastoff Oct. 12. But during routine testing at the launch pad, one of two computers aboard Galileo’s inertial upper stage booster, built by Boeing Co., made unexpected errors, prompting NASA managers to put off announcing a formal launch date.
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