The Nation - News from Aug. 7, 1987

Workers accidentally broke a water line at the Johnson Space Center’s mission control, dumping thousands of gallons of water on vital computers and causing an unknown amount of damage. It will be several days before officials can determine with certainty whether the damage will affect progress toward the next shuttle mission, now set for June, 1988, said Doug Ward, spokesman for the Houston center. He said it is expected to take several days to dry out the equipment and gradually restore power a section at a time.