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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 30, 1990                   TAG: 9006300068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SHUTTLE FLIGHTS ON HOLD

NASA is grounding its three space shuttles until engineers can find and fix a hydrogen leak that has now been detected in two of the winged spacecraft, the agency announced Friday.

Engineers conducting a test loading of hydrogen rocket fuel into the propellant tank of space shuttle Atlantis found the second leak early Friday morning. A similar leak found on Columbia last month forced postponement of its astronomy mission.

NASA spaceflight chief Bill Lenoir said Atlantis, which had been scheduled for launch in mid-July, now will be rolled back to the hangar so engineers can remove its fuel tank and try to locate the leak.

Columbia's leak also was found while it was on the launch pad, just six hours before its scheduled May 30 liftoff. It, too, was rolled back to the hangar.

Lenoir said the agency had no choice but to keep the space shuttle fleet on the ground until the problem is fixed. He designated Leonard Nicholson, deputy director of the space shuttle program at NASA headquarters in Washington, to take charge of the leak investigation.

"We can't fly until we can get hydrogen into the tank and we're not going to put hydrogen in the tank until we can do it safely and we've got a problem getting over that hump right now," Lenoir said in a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Lenoir said he "would hesitate to use the word grounded" in reference to the shuttle fleet, but he added: "There's no question that we won't fly until we understand it [the leak], have it fixed, have tested it, verified it and we're ready."

The NASA executive said that the leak problem could be resolved in two weeks, but that it could take longer if engineers determine a new design is needed for what is called the "umbilical" of the space shuttle. This is an assembly of pipes and valves that directs the flow of propellants into the tank from a ground supply and, at launch, from the tank to the shuttle engines.

Lenoir said that because the hydrogen leaks on Columbia and Atlantis occurred while the vehicles were being fueled on the launch pad, "it seems likely that these are related and of a similar class."

by CNB