A Bright Star Aloft for NASA

Despite minor glitches, the shuttle's eighth flight goes smoothly

It was like the inside of a bonfire." Thus did the pilot of Challenger, Daniel Brandenstein, describe the fiery view from his cockpit last week during the first nighttime launch of a U.S. space shuttle. So bright were the exhaust flames of Challenger's main engines and twin solid-fuel rocket boosters, which burn at 6000° F, that observers gathered at Kennedy Space Center for the eighth flight of NASA's Space Transportation System (STS-8) could read newspapers outdoors at 2:32...

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