Space Shuttle Was Improperly Affixed to Plane, NASA Says

The space shuttle Atlantis was not properly anchored to its carrier aircraft for a piggyback ride across the country to Palmdale last week, risking a catastrophic fall, NASA officials said Tuesday.

Washers were missing on the bolts that attached the shuttle to the Boeing 747 aircraft, which, in a worst case could have led to a catastrophic accident with the 100-ton orbiter breaking loose in flight.

“It could have been very potentially serious,” said Donald McMonagle, a senior shuttle manager at the Kennedy Space Center.

A formal investigation into the incident led by the shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, has begun, McMonagle said. “It’s a joint effort between NASA and the contractor to go find out exactly what happened,” he said.

The $2-billion shuttle left the Florida spaceport last Tuesday, bound for a nine-month, $70-million refit at a Boeing Co. plant in Palmdale. Atlantis’ route took it to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, where it was held up for three days because of bad weather.

When it arrived at Palmdale on Friday, engineers discovered two missing washers and damage to the bolts on the shuttle’s rear attachment points, sources at the space agency said.

The missing washers were supposed to distribute the weight of the shuttle to prevent over-stressing the bolts.

Space agency sources said the shuttle “was not about to fall off” in spite of the damage to the bolts discovered at Palmdale.

Atlantis’ departure from Florida was delayed by trouble aligning its attachment points to the 747. NASA officials said it was not clear if those problems were related to the missing washers.

Paperwork concerning the operation had been impounded and the workers involved were to be interviewed, NASA officials said. The inquiry was expected to focus on why the washers were missing when the paperwork indicated they were in place.

NASA uses two modified Boeing 747 aircraft to ferry its four space shuttle orbiters piggyback-style to and from the Florida launch site.