NASA to Probe Handling of Flawed Parts Discovery

NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly on Friday ordered an investigation of the recent discovery of cracks in a critical fuel sensor in the space shuttle Columbia.

“We have appointed an expert panel to review how the sensor problem was handled from start to finish. Equally important, we want to determine where any deficiencies exist in NASA’s system for handling such issues,” Truly said in a statement.

The review panel’s preliminary findings will be announced Thursday, he said.

However, Truly emphasized that the problems have been corrected and that he is confident Columbia is fully capable and safe for its upcoming launch.

Officials said the countdown will be restarted at 9 p.m. Tuesday, with launch expected at 8 a.m. next Saturday.

Columbia, originally scheduled for launch last Wednesday, was grounded after managers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration were informed Monday that welds in a hydrogen fuel line thermometer removed from the ship in September were cracked.

No one suspected a crack at the time, and NASA managers expressed concern about a series of miscues that delayed crucial tests. Had the sensor not been removed, it eventually would have broken off and might have been sucked into one of the shuttle’s main engines with possibly catastrophic results.

Meanwhile, the company that made the sensor said Friday that it did not know about the flaw until two days before the scheduled liftoff.

RDF Corp. of Hudson, N. H., a subcontractor, said it informed shuttle builder Rockwell International as soon as it learned of “potential safety implications” for shuttles using the sensor. After engineers from both firms worked through the night of May 20, RDF said, NASA was advised to postpone the launch.

At Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch pad crews removed all nine temperature sensors from liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen inlet lines and found one to be cracked. Three of four of the sensors on the hydrogen side were replaced with dummy plugs, after engineers decided that data from the instruments was no longer needed.

The other six sensors were to be replaced overnight.