
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 10, 1990                   TAG: 9007100082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SHUTTLE LEAK REMAINS MYSTERY FOR NASA

NASA officials said Monday they still have not pinpointed the mysterious hydrogen leak that has grounded the space shuttle fleet, even though engineers repeated the leak in laboratory tests.

Rockwell International engineers detected escaping hydrogen in a weekend test of hardware from space shuttle Columbia, but NASA space flight director William Lenoir said engineers still don't know the precise valve, pipe or seal in the complex plumbing of the liquid hydrogen rocket fuel system that is leaking.

The Rockwell test, in effect, proved that the leak was related to the design or assembly of the equipment. Lenoir said the next step now is to find the exact source.

Finding no leak, officials said, would have made the leak more puzzling and more difficult to repair.

An even more important leak test is planned for Friday or Saturday on space shuttle Atlantis, which is on a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

by CNB