| From Space World, Jan 87:
Challenger: A Major Malfuncition
Review by John Rhea
"investigative reporters are like hunding dogs,@ Pres. Carter's
press secretary Jody Powell once observed. "If you keep them in
the kennel too long, when they get out all they want to do is snap
at buterflies and [urinate] on the pickup truck."
Instead of a pickup truck, Malcolm McConnell, the resident space
expert at READER'S DIGEST <that tells you something about it...bf>
has directed his attentions at the Space Shuttle and NASA. The
results are comparable.
No one even remotely assoicated with the Challenger tragedy of a
year ago escapes McC's crossfire. NASA Admin James Fletcher is
accuesd of rigging the award of the solid rocket booster contract
to Morton-Thiokol in his role as "leading member" of the :mormon
Mafia". Public Affairs Director Shirley Green is supposed to have
funneled White HOuse pressure on the launch team to get Challenger
off on time so Pres. Reagan could reap political dividends from
teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe during his State of the Union
speech. Congressman Bill Nelson's "junket" on the previous Shuttle
flight is said to have prevented needed spare parts from being
available in time for NASA to meet the original Challenger deadline.
The who-said-what-to-whom litany of discussions between the booster
managers from Thiokol and Marashal Space Flights Center on the eve
of the launch is trotted again.
Although McConnell cliams to have sources somehow not available
to other reporters, there is a universal lack of revelations in
this book. A skillful rewrite of the Rogers Commission report,
yes, and there is a particular poignancy in his firsthand description
of the scene at the VIP viewing site as Challenger exploded, but
this is not the expos� that the imflammatory dust jacket ("A True
Story of Politics, Greed, and the Wrong Stuff") would lead you to
believe.
<Another third of a page or uncomplementary description deleted due to
tired fingers>
In the publicity barrage accompanying the book's release this month,
Doubleday concedes it took a few liberties with its own launch schedule
in order to get it out in time for the anniversary of the disaster
(although denying it was a "quickie" book)--and incidentally, beat
a competing book due out in March from Crown Publishers.
It would be conforting to think this next book, Prescription For
Disaster by Joseph Trento, might be an intidote to McConnells hysteria.
But don't bet on it; Crown describes Trento as an "investigative
reporter" for Cable News Network. Back to your kennels until you
can tell butterflies from pickup trucks!
Burns
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