Mar 26 1987
From The Space Library
NASA selected Lockheed Engineering and Management Services Company to negotiate an engineering support contract for Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. The contract would consolidate work currently per-formed by Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, and Northrop Services, Inc. (NASA Release 87-42; WSJ, Mar 27/87; H Chron, Mar 27/87)
An Atlas-Centaur rocket, launched during a driving thunderstorm from Cape Canaveral, Florida, veered out of control 52 seconds after liftoff and was blown up by NASA safety officials. The launch was NASA's third major mission in 1987. Investigators trying to determine the cause of the accident said that data radioed to the ground from the rocket seconds before it careened off-course, which indicated a major electrical disturbance aboard. Investigators speculated that lightning, prevalent in the area at the time, may have caused the failure. (W Post, Mar 27/87; W Post, Mar 31/87; W Times, Mar 31/87)
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