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Atlantis astronauts ignite fire to enhance future flight safety
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
(AP) — Atlantis' astronauts set a
small fire aboard their spaceship
Wednesday, but don't worry, ft
was an experiment to enhance
future flight safety.
The fire was ignited inside a
sealed aluminum chamber in the
shuttle crew cabin, sending tear-
drop-shaped flames creeping
along a strip of paper before ex
tinguishing itself about a minute
later.
"Everything looked like it ran
100 percent," said John Kou-
delka, the experiment's project
manager.
Crewman John Adamson ig
nited the paper on the five astro
nauts' sixth day in orbit by flick
ing switches that sent electric
current to a wire.
"Three, two, one, start," Ad
amson said as he hit the final
switch.
Cameras recording the event
showed a big flash. The flame
moved slowly up each side of
the 4.3-inch-long piece of ashless
paper. The paper continued to
smolder, with flames shooting
from the center. Then all was
black.
It is only the third time shuttle
astronauts have kindled flames
in space. NASA's only other or
biting fire experiments were in
1974, when Skylab astronauts set
fire to Mylar and polyurethane
foam.
Data from the first two tests,
conducted in October and in
June, are still being analyzed.
Flames travel twice as slow in
space as on Earth and glow a
cooler blue because less soot is
formed.
"All of our knowledge about
flames in zero-gravity is based
on theories. No one has ever ver
ified these," said Howard Ross,
chief of the microgravity com
bustion branch at the National
Aeronautics and Space Adminis
tration's Lewis Research Center
in Cleveland.
Fire experiments are planned
for five more shuttle missions.
The next one is scheduled for
next summer; in addition to an
other chamber test, the astro
nauts will light a tiny candle and
set fire to wire insulation and
polyurethane foam.
Ross said the research is de
signed to improve safety on
shuttles and future spaceships
by increasing the understanding
of how flames spread in weight
lessness. It ultimately might help
firefighters on Earth, too, he
said.
NASA takes strict precautions
to avoid fire in space. Only fire-
retardant plastics are permitted
aboard the orbiter, and wire in
sulation must be made of flame-
resistant material.
Rubbing alcohol and flamma
ble solvents or cleansers are pro
hibited, as are matches and ciga
rette lighters.
Federal judge
rules against
Louisiana
abortion law
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A
federal judge Wednesday de
clared Louisiana's strict anti
abortion law unconstitutional,
setting the stage for appeals by
abortion opponents hoping to
overturn the 1973 Supreme
Court decision that established
abortion rights.
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The law would send doctors
who perform abortions to prison
for up to 10 years with fines of
up to $100,000.
U.S. District Judge Adrian Du-
plantier's ruling that struck
down the law was unexpectedly
early. He had scheduled a hear
ing on the matter for next week.
A copy of Duplantier's ruling
wasn't immediately available,
but a clerk in the judge's office
who asked not to be identified
said the judge declared the law
unconstitutional.
The Louisiana abortion law
was passed by the Legislature
earlier this summer, when the
state House and Senate each
voted to override Gov. Buddy
Roemer's veto.
Roemer has long said he is op
posed to abortion on demand.
But he demanded exceptions in
the law for victims of rape and
incest.
The bill passed by the Legis
lature has such exceptions but
Roemer said the rape exception
was drawn too tightly.
It required rape victims to seek
medical attention within five
days of the crime, and that they
report the crime to authorities
within a week of its occurrence.
Money hoax 'a cruel joke'
Soviets panic over false TV report
declaring recall of U.S. $100 bills
MOSCOW (AP) — Soviets
with American money under
their mattresses are losing sleep
because of a
false TV re
port that the
United States
is printing
new $100 bills
and will not
honor the old
ones.
Panicked
Soviets have ,
deluged the Jack Matlock
American Embassy and the Mos
cow offices of U.S. companies
with telephone calls since Sun
day's television report, which
the government newspaper Iz-
vestia called "a cruel joke."
U.S. Ambassador Jack F. Mat-
lock Jr. took the unusual step of
denying the report in an inter
view Monday on Russian tele
vision. Nevertheless, currency
exchange windows at some So
viet hotels and banks refused to
accept $100 bills on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Although there was no order
against taking the bills, individ
ual cashiers used their authority
to reject them, the newspaper
Moskovsky Komsomolets re
ported.
"We've reassured everyone
that existing currency will not be
recalled and will remain legal
tender. I'm surprised to hear
that some people still haven't
otten the message," U.S. Em-
assy spokesman John Ohta said
Wednesday.
The panic stems from the U.S.
Treasury Department's July 25
announcement that it is making
changes in $100 bills to foil coun
terfeiters.
The changes include a tiny
polyester thread, imbedded ver
tically in the paper, that bears
the initials USA and the denomi
nation of the bill. The thread
cannot be reproduced by even
the most advanced color photo
copiers.
Publisher halts operation
of seven failing magazines
NEW YORK (AP) — The pubUsher of Dis
cover, Health and five other magazines said
Wednesday it is halting operations because of
the weak advertising market and tight credit.
Family Media Inc. said it will continue trying to
sell the magazines.
Robert Riordan, principal owner of Family
Media, told staffers in a memo that the "contin
ual downturn in advertising and an economy
which hinders the ability to borrow new
money" forced the move.
Unless he can find a buyer, the magazines
will not be published again.
But even if he does, he said in the memo that
"would still not allow us to continue the opera
tion of Family Media."
Riordan failed to return calls seeking com
ment on the problems that led him to disconti
nue operations.
The trade journal Advertising Age reported
earlier this week that Family Media was labor
ing under a debt load of $60 million to $70 mil
lion and was under pressure from lenders.
It said information circulated to potential
buyers showed Discover was Family Media's
only profitable magazine.
As a private company, it is not required to
disclose financial figures.
The company's biggest achievement may
have come in 1986 when it sold The Ladies
Home Journal for a reported $80 million more
than it had paid for it four years earlier.
That reinforced Riordan's reputation in the
magazine industry as someone who could re
suscitate failing magazines.
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Airline declares bankruptcy after rebirth
NEW YORK (AP) — Living up to one of
aviation's most troubled names, the latest
airline flying as Braniff landed in bank
ruptcy court Wednesday, barely a month af
ter its rebirth.
The fledgling carrier, Braniff International*
Airlines, filed for protection from creditors
under Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
inHauppauge, N.Y.
Braniff said it "remains committed to pro
viding service on its various routes," includ
ing flights serving Newark, N.J.; Dallas; Or
lando and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla; and Islip,
N.Y. It blamed the trouble on business dis
putes that it plans to sue over.
The new Braniff, based in Dallas, had
been in business only since July 1 before en
tering bankruptcy court, where two former
incarnations of Braniff had stopped flying.
"We remain convinced that our routes
form the basis for a viable airline and we
look foward to building on this foundation
by serving the growing needs of the travel
ing public in New York, Florida and Texas,"
Braniff said.
Industry observers were not so sure. The
new Braniff had taken off at a time when
even the industry's healthy, established car
riers were reeling from the effects of the Per
sian Gulf crisis and the recession.
Airline analyst Raymond E. Neidl at Dil
lon Read & Co. Inc. said the only thing sur
prising about Braniff's Chapter 11 filing was
the speed.
"That was quicker than I thought," Neidl
said. "How'd they do it so quick?"
Braniff did not elaborate on its troubles
and would have no further comment, a
spokesman said.
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U.S., Soviet representatives
sign accord on energy policies
WASHINGTON (AP) —
U.S. and Soviet representa
tives signed accords Wednes
day that could help the Soviet
Union keep its place as the
world's biggest oil producer.
W. Henson Moore, deputy
secretary of energy, and Ran-
tik Margulov, first deputy
chairman of the Soviet State
Fuels and Energy Commis
sion, signed a record of a
week's meetings at which they
pledged regular exchanges on
energy policies and technolo
gies.
In the first five months of
1991, the Soviets produced 10
million barrels of oil a day,
compared with 7.8 million bar
rels tor Saudi Arabia.
Margulov said at a joint
news conference that the Sovi
ets expect to produce 3.85 bil
lion barrels this year and next,
including 420 million barrels
for export.
That would call for a rise in
Soviet production after a sharp
drop since 1988.
Oil exports have been a ma
jor earner for the Soviets of the
dollars they need to buy food
and equipment in the West.
"We are not going to reduce
our exports of energy," Mar
gulov said.
At current prices, the 420
million barrels would provide
more than $8 billion
But U.S. officials are not op
timistic.
Security Council
OKs Iraqi oil sales
UNITED NATIONS (AP) —
The five permanent Security
Council members agreed
Wednesday to authorize Iraq to
sell as much
as $1.6 billion
in oil over six
months to buy
food, humani
tarian sup
plies and pay
war damages.
The resolu
tion won gen
eral agree- Ssddarn Hussein
ment from the United States,
Britain, China, France and the
Soviet Union, according to West
ern diplomats.
A text of the proposed resolu
tion, obtained by The Associated
Press, states that the Security
Council authorizes all states to
permit the import of Iraqi oil and
petroleum products to be sold in
three installments.
Accepted by the five countries
with veto power, the draft will
now be passed on to the rest of
the Security Council for possible
amendment. Some non-aligned
nations are expected to protest
its restrictive terms, intended to
keep the money from oil sales
out of Saddam Hussein's hands.
Iraq's U.N. envoy said his
government will refuse to sell its
oil unless the resolution is mod
ified. Iraq had requested permis
sion to sell $1.5 billion in oil, but
without conditions.
"If the draft resolution passes
as it stands now, Iraq isn't going
to sell oil," said Ambassador Ab
dul Amir al-Anbari. "Lifting
sanctions for six months on oil
sales doesn't benefit Iraq," he
said.
If Iraq does refuse the sales, it
eventually could have grave ef
fects on the health and nutrition
of poor Iraqis, which U.N. stud
ies have indicated are deteriorat
ing as a result of the war and the
economic sanctions imposed on
Iraq.
VVestern diplomats called the
oil sale a one-time exception to
the U.N. sanctions regime and
said that sanctions were not be
ing lifted or eased because Iraq
has lied in its declarations about
what weapons it has, and has
not satisfied Security Council
cease-fire demands.
Sweeping sanctions were im
posed after Iraq invaded Kuwait
last Aug. 2.
The resolution states that each
purchase of Iraqi oil must be ap
proved by the Security Council's
Sanctions Committee, which
monitors the trade embargo
against Iraq.
Payments will go directly into
a U.N. escrow account to be ad
ministered by the secretary-gen
eral.
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