NASA Seeks Crew Escape System

C A P E   C A N A V E R A L, Fla., Jan. 26 -- Fifteen years after Challengerdisintegrated in the sky, NASA is considering a variety of escapesystems — ejection seats, flyaway capsules — that could save thecrew in another space shuttle accident.

It is the most extensive and expensive look at shuttle crewescape systems ever conducted by NASA. Engineers expect to wrap upthe yearlong, $5 million study by spring. But ultimately, the spaceagency may decide not to add any such features.

NASA puts the odds of a catastrophic accident during launch —the most dangerous part of any shuttle mission — at 1-in-438.Shuttle flight No. 102 is coming up in a week and a half.

Ejection Seats a Favorite

The leading contender among the safety features underconsideration is the ejection seat — the same system used for theGemini program and the first four shuttle flights. The Mercury andApollo spacecraft had rocket-powered towers to fling the capsulesaway in an emergency. None of these was ever used, but in theSoviet Union, an escape rocket safely pulled two cosmonauts from aburning booster in 1983.

Ejection seats were no longer considered necessary once NASAdeclared the space shuttle operational, beginning with flight No. 5in 1982.

"It was the Titanic syndrome: 'Not even God can sink thisship,"' recalls former astronaut Bryan O'Connor, director ofengineering at Futron Corp.

NASA's attitude changed with flight No. 25 — the doomed launchof Challenger, which took place 15 years ago this Sunday, on Jan.28, 1986. All seven crew members were killed, including teacherChrista McAuliffe. The cause: a gas leak in the right boosterrocket.

In the explosion, the crew module separated from the fireballand plunged into the sea. But the crew members had no parachutesand no way to jettison the hatch. They were wearing flimsy bluejumpsuits.

O'Connor headed a panel that looked at crew escape systems afterthe disaster. When shuttle flights resumed in 1988, he and otherastronauts ended up with parachutes; partially pressurized, brightorange suits with emergency oxygen and survival gear; a hatch thatblows open; and a pole for sliding out of the spacecraft.