Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 17, 1990 TAG: 9007170339
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"We were afraid that we had what we call a generic problem, something we had overlooked that might really be a dangerous situation that would have a long-term effect," Truly said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"As it turned out, it was just the terrible coincidence of two separate, specific leaks. We have found them both and now, since it did involve two orbiters and two payloads, we're now just looking at schedules to see what is the most effective way to get back to flight."
He said a new flight schedule probably will be announced later today or tomorrow, and predicted that flights will resume by mid-August or the first of September.
"The system didn't go down for three years like it did after Challenger, it went down for three or four weeks," he said.
NASA grounded the space shuttle fleet after a hydrogen leak was found in Columbia in May and another leak was found on Atlantis last month. Columbia, which had been poised for launch on an astronomy mission, was rolled back to the hangar and partly dismantled. The part that was leaking has now been replaced. Atlantis remains on the pad and NASA officials said its leak may be repaired without taking the shuttle back to the hangar.
Truly acknowledged that problems with the shuttle and the Hubble telescope could prompt the public to question NASA's competence, but said a management review panel announced Monday is intended to look at long-range plans rather than second-guess recent problems.
He said Vice President Dan Quayle "fully understands that these recent events have been separate events that didn't have anything to do with each other."
"What we talked about most was the future, where we're going in future years and how a NASA of the future might be structured and how we could get advice on where it would move to," said Truly. "We agreed to do something we both thought was the right thing to do and that is get in a few people that have some real top experience in both government and industry management and report to me and take a look at where we might go in the future."
However, the Bush administration's decision to have an outside panel study the nation's long-term space goals is getting a cool reception from some lawmakers.
"After a weekend of rumors that the administration was going to ask some fundamental questions about NASA, we now find it will create yet another group," said Sen. Albert Gore, D-Tenn., chairman of a subcommittee that oversees the space program.
The panel, which is being appointed in response to a spate of recent embarrassments to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will report to Quayle, head of the National Space Council.
by CNB