Workers Tear Into Shuttle to Replace Computer

Workers began the time-consuming task of switching a key computer aboard the space shuttle Atlantis Wednesday, a process that is expected to delay the launch until at least next Tuesday.

The computer, called a controller, monitors one of the shuttle’s three main engines during liftoff and it had given faulty readings during a checkout Monday night.

Former astronaut Robert Crippen said Wednesday that launch officials feared that the computer might shut down the engine during liftoff, “placing the vehicle in jeopardy.”

Crippen, who chairs the committee that has the final word on whether any shuttle is safe to launch, estimated that switching the computer would delay the launch five to seven days. It had been scheduled for today.

As any backyard mechanic will appreciate, most of the time required to make the switch will be used up just getting to the computer. The problem, Crippen said, is “access.”

A special platform had to be moved under the shuttle to support the workers and the tools they will need, and the shuttle’s heat shield has to be removed before the workers can even see the computer. Officials are expected to announce a new launch date as early as today.

After initially giving a false reading, the computer performed perfectly during additional tests but officials said they could not launch until they understand exactly what caused the earlier failure.

“It’s disappointing,” admitted Rear Adm. Richard Truly, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But he said the problem “had enough unknowns in it that the decision was (made) without much argument.”

The decision to scrub the launch came just as a federal judge in Washington ruled that NASA had complied with the law in assessing the hazards of the launch. This is to be the first launch of a shuttle carrying a radioactive cargo.

Atlantis will carry the Galileo spacecraft to orbit on the first leg of the craft’s long journey to Jupiter. Galileo has nearly 50 pounds of plutonium 238 on board, used to generate electricity to run its many instruments.

Opponents of the mission, concerned that a catastrophic accident could release deadly amounts of plutonium into the atmosphere, were unable to convince the court that NASA had failed to adequately assess the danger as required by federal law.

In Washington, anti-nuclear activists headed back to court to ask U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Gasch for an “expedited decision” on a preliminary injunction to stop the launch, less than 24 hours after Gasch rejected a request for a temporary restraining order.

A spokesman for the plaintiffs--the Florida Coalition for Peace, the Florida-based Christic Institute and the Washington-based Foundation on Economic Trends--said they would seek to get the case “out of Gasch’s hands and into appeals court” by asking the judge for an expedited decision on an injunction, which can be appealed

The groups are seeking an 18-month delay in the mission, claiming the government suppressed vital safety data and did not address alternatives, such as an unmanned rocket, to fire the $1.5 billion Galileo probe to Jupiter.

Justice Department attorneys representing NASA argued that Galileo’s six-year mission to Jupiter carried very low risks.

Staff writer Kevin Davis in Washington contributed to this story