Apr 14 1986
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(New page: The United States planned to resume its efforts to put nuclear reactors into space. The move would renew a program abandoned 10 years prior to this date, but now deemed necessary for Presi...)
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The United States planned to resume its efforts to put nuclear reactors into space. The move would renew a program abandoned 10 years prior to this date, but now deemed necessary for President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), "Star Wars." Even without SDI, said Air Force officials, reactors would be needed for the next generation of space-based weapons; NASA could use such reactors to power Space Stations, lunar bases, interplanetary explorers, and satellite traffic control. The United States has mainly relied on solar energy for its space activities, but SDI would require more power than the panels could give. The Soviet Union never abandoned its plan for space reactors and sent up 20 nuclear-powered satellites, one of which crashed and spread radioactive debris over northwest Canada. (W Post, Apr 14/86)
NASA officials announced that the redesign of booster rocket seals would render them fail-safe. The new design would not use putty to protect the seals from heat; would include an outside cover to protect the seals from rain and ice, with a possible heating element built in; use a clip to prevent rotation; and provide a backup seal for each joint of the booster. (P Inq, Apr 14/86)
Rocket debris recovered on April 13, 40 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 560 feet of water was determined by the President's Commission to be the part of the right booster thought to be responsible for the Challenger accident. In the area where photographs had shown a plume of flame was a one-foot by two-foot hole, lending concrete evidence to the theory that the o-ring and/or the putty used to protect it had failed to do its job of sealing two of the rocket's four segments. (C Trib, Apr 15/86; W Post, Apr 15/86; W Times, Apr 15/86; NY Times, Apr 15/86; B Sun, Apr 15/86)
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