HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Space engineers say a problem with computer commands would have spelled failure for the space shuttle Columbia if a real launch had been attempted last week instead of a test firing.
The engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center confirmed Monday that a programming malfunction in a ground-base computer would have prevented the firing of two solid fuel booster rockets, designed to help carry the shuttle into space.
The boosters were not fired during last Friday's test of the main engines.
National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration engineers at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and at Marshall spotted the computer malfunction during a weekend analysis of results from the engine test firing and countdown tests.
Jack Lee, deputy director of the Marshall center, said last Friday, after a 20-second test firing of the Columbia's main engines, that initial results of the exercise suggested 'we could have gone today.'
But Dr. K.A. Lovingood, deputy director of the shuttle development office at Marshall, said computer-related problems with the booster rockets affected hydraulic controls and would have stopped a countdown 25 seconds before the main engine would be ignited in a 'normal' launch.
'We're glad we discovered this because it's the kind of little problems we want to have so that when we get into a launch situation we'll have the bugs out of the system,' Lovingood said.
Both the main engine and the solid fuel rocket boosters were developed through programs managed by the Marshall center. The center also managed development of a large external fuel tank that will carry liquid hydrogen and oxygen to fuel the Columbia's main three-engine cluster.
'We're pleased with the results,' Lovingood said. 'We're looking forward to a launch in April, and we don't have any reason to think that we won't make that April 5 week launch date.'
