Pliers Found on Shuttle Booster Prompt Inquiry

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA scrambled Wednesday to explain how the space shuttle Discovery lifted off with a pair of pliers stuck on a rocket booster.

With Discovery’s ozone survey mission in its seventh day, National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said the pliers posed no danger during liftoff. But the mistake prompted embarrassed space officials to open an investigation and to tighten the rules for how launch pad workers use tools.

“It’s been a long time since something like this happened,” NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone said. “We’ve lost washers and bolts (in the shuttle) but never a tool like this.”

Officials were amazed that the pliers remained wedged in a metal pocket on the outside of the base of the right solid-fuel booster.

The twin boosters peeled away from Discovery two minutes into the flight, once emptied of their fuel. They slammed into the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville, Fla., and were towed by ship 175 miles back to Cape Canaveral, Fla. That’s when the pliers were found.

NASA is particularly sensitive about shuttle boosters. The 1986 Challenger explosion, which killed seven astronauts, was caused by a leak in a joint on the right solid-fuel rocket booster.

Malone said a technician for booster maker Thiokol Corp. noticed that his pliers were missing April 2, six days before Discovery blasted off. He told his supervisor, but the supervisor never filed a report and consequently no search was conducted, officials said.

In space, meanwhile, everything continued to go well for Discovery’s crew.