Col. James Puhek has spent most of his life around launch pads and the space program. He recalls the development of the old Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile program that sent early payloads of machines and men into the final frontier.

"Using these 'Legacy systems,' including Atlas, Titan and Delta rockets, America has tried over the years to make access to space a routine event," the colonel said. "However, these systems were designed with 1960's technology, had a different mission than today and a lot more program oversight.

"Maybe we've gone a bit too far as a nation by treating space access as routine and fully operational with systems not designed to meet today's higher standards," Puhek said. "I don't know the answer, but we're finally looking at such possibilities now, as we should."

On May 19, President Clinton ordered the Defense Department, Central Intelligence Agency and National Aeronautical and Space Administration to conduct an investigation into the series of launch failures and provide a report to the White House within 90 days. But even before the order wa issued, an assortment of Air Force investigations had already begun.

"Because the six incidents were so close in time, it has caused us to scope up and take a bigger look into the whole picture," Puhek said. "Lockheed Martin and Boeing have also started their own investigations, so you've got a lot of people working on the problem at the same time."

Of the six launch failures, three were run by the government and three by the commercial industry. Although there does not appear to be a common cause for the failures, the president's commission will examine whether there is in fact a common problem.

As the broad-area investigation continues, the separate investigation of the Titan IV failure in August has been completed with corrective actions already implemented. Two more investigations from the other launch accidents are also nearing completion.

"The investigation into the failure of the Titan IV that launched an early warning satellite April 9 is making excellent progress. They have their eye on pretty specific causes for failure, and I think they'll have it wrapped up in a couple of months, easily," said Col. Mike Dunn, Space and Missile Systems Center launch programs director at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

He also said the investigation of the most recent Titan IV failure April 30 should be completed in July. The national investigation ordered by the White House, according to Dunn, can then take advantage of these and other findings from both the military and contractors to determine what went wrong and why.

While both officers point out that the accidents in the last two launches using Titan rockets appear to have straightforward causes identified, Puhek said it is good that the Washington-directed investigation is taking place to look at the entire launch picture.

Dunn emphasized that space launch itself is still a risky business, especially with fewer dollars to spend.

"While a host of engineers work very, very hard to mitigate risks and provide mission success, it's an ongoing challenge," he said. "We've tried to do things in a tight fiscal environment because we had to. By and large, it's been very successful, but I think we've added additional risks to the programs in some cases.

Compared to the elaborate and expensive safety and backup systems in place during the '60s and '70s, Puhek said, "some budget cuts may have affected our margin for mission success."

Cost controls often translate into personnel cutbacks. Puhek said, "During such consolidations it is critical that we maintain the right level of government and industry expertise to continue space programs in the future."

The colonel pointed out that with about 25 launches scheduled for fiscal 2000, the answers to myriad questions need to be found quickly to implement proper solutions. He admitted that the use of launch vehicles designed in the 1960s with present-day control technologies, safety measures and launch procedures can further complicate getting the right answers to those questions.

There's a lot at stake, according to Puhek.

"America risks not only its upper hand in military space communications and technologies but also the lucrative business as the world's premier commercial space launch provider."

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