Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B7/INTL EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
It was the fifth engine shutdown at the pad in 13 years of shuttle flights and the third since April 1993. But none had been so close to launch.
Deidra Baker, wife of the shuttle commander, was watching from the launch control center three miles away with their two daughters. Her voice quivered as she described seeing husband Michael Baker stuck inside a vibrating, rumbling, 2,000-ton rocket ship filled with explosive fuel.
Baker said he and the five other astronauts fell silent when red warning lights flashed in the cockpit.
The astronauts were strapped in their seats for about an hour after the launch was aborted, as ground crews rushed to make sure Endeavour was safe. The launch team's prime concern was the possibility of hydrogen fuel leaks; that's why 300,000 gallons of water were sprayed at the pad.
``I think everything went well. The systems did their job and shut us down,'' said Baker, a Navy captain and former test pilot. ``We got out of there nice and safely.''
When the three main engines fired on cue 61/2 seconds before liftoff and spewed huge clouds of steam, NASA's deputy manager for engines, Boyce Mix, said he thought ``we had it in the bank.''
One by one, the engines were turned off automatically by computer command, starting 1.9 seconds before the solid rocket boosters were to have ignited and the shuttle taken off. NASA's countdown clocks got all the way down to zero when the launch was halted.
``I don't know how you spell `Aw shucks,' but that is the term that applies,'' said launch director Bob Sieck.
by CNB