Workers apparently installed Atlantis atop its 747 carrier aircraft improperly, omitting a set of washers from bolts used to fasten the orbiter to the airplane. Critics contend - and officials of the United Space Alliance contractor firm confirmed - that under a worse case scenario the 100,000 pound Shuttle could have separated from the moorings atop the Boeing plane and fallen off. The incident would have destroyed a $2 billion spacecraft and possibly resulted in destruction of the carrier plane as well.

USA is conducting an investigation into the event, which occurred at its Kennedy Space Center hangar before departing for Palmdale, California Nov. 11th. Atlantis is to undergo months of modifications and inspections while at its Boeing manufacturing plant.

The most serious lingering consequence of the incident is that paperwork and certifications were signed off by senior workers testifying that all of the mounting hardware had in fact been installed. If certification documents are faked, the entire Space Shuttle certification process could be called into question.

NASA and USA, a combine formed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, signed a 1996 agreement to begin transfer of Shuttle operations from the federal government to the new contractor. The consolidation and privatization effort has lead to reduction in force at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Shuttle launch base. Critics of the move have accused USA of damaging worker morale and lessening safety in its move to put space flight on a profit basis, charges that USA officials have denied. NASA has also pointed to improved launch times and smoother pre-launch preparations as indications that the privatization program was on track.

NASA administrator Daniel Goldin is believed to be planning to move the privatization initiative to its next level in 1998 by considering a USA proposal to allow the return of commercial payloads to the Shuttle fleet. Commercial satellites and cargoes were banned from the Shuttle following the 1986 Challenger accident. Sources say USA believes that by allowing true commercial Shuttle operations, the fleet of winged craft could actually turn a profit. Others say the spaceships are too fragile and unreliable to accelerate its launching operations, and that such a move could lead to another space disaster. Providers of existing launch services using expendable rockets are also believed less that happy with the prospect of competing for business against the taxpayer-built and funded Shuttle fleet. Although it might make for interesting competition: the largest U.S. expendable rocket makers against which USA would compete the Shuttles are- Boeing and Lockheed Martin.