Late tuition-payers received no coursed By VICKIE BROWN Collegian Staff Writer Many students have found themselves “canceled” from their classes because their estimated bills were not recorded as paid, the director of registration and ( scheduling said yesterday. J. James Wager said the registration office canceled the registration of all students who had not filed their estimated bills by the deadline. He said the actual cutoff point was the afternoon of Aug. 23, although the advertised deadline was Aug. 10. The Aug. 10 deadline had been extended from Aug. 3 because of computer difficulties, Wager said. The deadline extensions gave students the opportunity to resolve any problems they might have encountered and to pay their bills on time, he said. Wager said the registration office issued a report last week that said students who had not filed their estimated bills were about to be dropped from their classes. “It sounds like we are the bad guys in all of this, but we issued specific and individual notification,” Wager said. “We were very up front about this decision. All students were notified at least two times, some more than that,” he said. Devon Zettle, registration office spokeswoman, said the only way a student would have been dropped from his classes would be if the Bursar’s Office did not receive the student’s estimated bill. “We don’t touch a student’s records unless we have to,” she said. Some students encountered a great deal of difficulty-in paying index Opinion sports- weather Cioudly today with the chance of a scattered showers. High of 83 degrees. Tomorrow will also be cloudy Dan Zimmerman the daily their bills, Wager said. “A couple of hundred students may have thought their bills were paid, and for whatever reason things didn’t come together and they were caught in the system,” Wager said. “We are very cognizant of the fact that some students are having problems with the system; we are registering those people and not charging late fees,” he said. Steve Weinstein (senior finance) said he encountered difficulties as a result of the new system. He said two estimated bills were sent to his home in the summmer. He tried to call the registration office several times to correct the problem but was unsuccessful. “I decided to wait until I.got to the University to resolve the situation in person,” Weinstein said. He said the problem was solved and his bill paid by the morning of Aug. 23, but he later found he had been dropped from his classes. Brian Palmer (senior-nuclear engineering) said he also paid his bill on the morning of Aug. 23, but was dropped from his classes. Neither University Bursar Donald Tressler nor Wager could say why those students had. been dropped because students were not dropped by the computer until that afternoon. But Wager speculated that some students’ payments may not have been recorded into the computer as tuition payments, but recorded into another category. Wager said if students find they are cancelled from their classes and have paid their tuition, they should contact the registration office to find out why and what can be done. Collegian Discovery flight delayed 3rd time Liftoff rescheduled for tomorrow By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL Associated Press Writer ' CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The first launch of the space shuttle Discovery was postponed for the third time last night, this time by a problem in the electronic system that jettisons the ship’s booster rockets and fuel tank when they are empty. Liftoff was rescheduled for 8:35 a.m. EDT Thursday, 24 hours late. The space agency’s prestige and the fortunes of America’s space program ride on a successful flight. Twice before, the crew of six had climbed into the ship’s cockpit, only to find themselves still earthbound a few hours later. It didn’t get that far this time. The crew was asleep when top NASA officials made the decision less than 12 hours before the scheduled blastoff. Fueling of the shuttle’s huge fuel tank had not begun. Engineers had spent most of the day working on the electronic system problem, programming new commands into Discovery’s onboard computer. “Even though the testing was going well, there was still a lack of confidence ... they wanted more time for more eyes to look at the software problem,” said NASA spokesman Charles Redmond. He said the extra day will also give the crew a chance to practice using a manual backup system for discarding the spent boosters and fuel tank. Their.dead weight would 1 prevent the shiittle from going into orbit. / “We’re not going to take any undue risks to get off the launch pad tomorrow,” shuttle director Jesse W. Moore had said earlier. The weather for Thursday morning looked good for a launch, forecasters said. Redmond characterized the problem as “incompatibility” between software and hardware in a timing system called a Master Events Controller. He explained that the trouble was in a set of signals that are supposed to be sent simultaneously to explosive bolts that tie the boosters and the 154-foot-long tank to the shuttle. “The concern is that under certain circumstances important events such as solid rocket booster, separation and external tank separation may not occur,” said an PSU with By BILL FERRELL and KRISTINE SORCHILLA Collegian Staff Writers Student identification stickers that show semester and full-time or part-time status will be issued starting Sept. 4, and University and downtown services that require the sticker will reinstate the requirements after Sept. 7, the University registrar said this week. Warren R. Haffner said full-time and part-time students may obtain identification stickers from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. according to the following scheduler . • Sept. 4 Seniors with semester classification of' seven and higher may obtain stickers in 301 HUB. Graduate students may obtain stickers in the HUB reading room. • Sept. 5 Juniors with semester classification of five and six may obtain stickers in 301 HUB. Graduate students may again obtain stickers in the HUB reading room. • Sept. 6 Sophomores with semester classification of three and four may recieve identification stickers in 301 HUB. Non-degree and provisional students may obtain stickers in the HUB reading room. • Sept. 7 Freshmen with semester classification of one and. two may obtain stickers in the HUB reading room. Non-degree and provisional students may obtain identification stickers in the HUB reading room. The idea behind the schedule is to keep the flow of students uniform and to shorten lines, Haffner said. Students must report to the HUB aind pick up stickers on their designated dates only. But students who do not receive identification stickers on the scheduled dates may obtain stickers anytime after Sept. 10 in 112. Shields Building from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Haffner said. Registration stickers are being re-issued because certain services on campus are provided based on a student’s current registration status, said William Richardson, University executive vice president and provost. For example, Ritenour Health Center charges students different rates for treatment according to their part-time or full-time status. Ronald L. Fetzer, assistant director for administration, said part-time students pay the same official NASA announcement. Redmond said engineers were worried because the readings they received during a test indicated the signals were firing one after the other instead of simultaneously, and that the ship’s computer was not accepting this spacing between commands. If so, the rockets and tank might not separate. Discovery is to carry three costly communications satellites into space the heaviest cargo yet in 12 shuttle flights r- and to produce test quantities of a mystery drug. The crew includes the second American woman to go into space and the first paying passenger. All four commercial television networks planned live coverage of the liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. Discovery is scheduled to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a six-day flight. Commander Henry W. Hartsfield, 50, and pilot Michael L. Coats, a 38-year-old Navy commander, flew T-38 jets around the Kennedy Space Center launch site yesterday both for fun and to acclimate their bodies for space flight. Flight plan reviews occupied the other crew members. New shuttle to try to recover stray satellite on future trip By NAN CRYSTAL ARENS Collegian Staff Writer Plans are under way to rescue the ill-fated Indonesian communication satellite launched last February from the space shuttle into an improper orbit, said a National Aeronautics and Space Administration public information officer. Leon Perry said astronauts will attempt to retrieve the $75 million Palapa B-2 communication satellite in a planned Nov. 10 mission of the space shuttle Discovery. In the rescue, the satellite will be approached by an astronaut during a space walk, a ring will be placed on the satellite and it will be grappled by the space shuttle’s remote manipulator arm, Perry said. This procedure is similar to the successful retrieval of the Solar Maximum satellite in April, Perry said. Perry said NASA signed a contract with Merrett Syndicate, Ltd. and International Technology Underwriters, insurers of the satellite, to bring the satellite back to earth. The underwriters are paying for the rescue, he added. The satellite will be turned over to the underwriters when it is returned to Earth, Perry said. comes through fall ID stickers because of electronics problem Judith A. Resnik, 35, is a mission specialist who will operate a test of a 102-foot-tall solar “sail,” an electricity-producing device to be used on space stations of the future. Resnik, who holds a doctorate in engineering, is the first Jewish astronaut in space as well as the second woman. The other mission specialists are Steven A. Hawley, 32, husband of America’s first woman astronaut, Sally Ride, and Air Force Maj. Richard M. Mullane, 38. Charles D. Walker, who works for McDonnell Douglas Corp., will operate a device to produce a hormone in larger quantity and greater purity than is possible on Earth. The company, which paid Wednesday, Aug. 29,1984 Vol. 85, No. 36 32 pages University Park, Pa. 18802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State-University ©1984 Collegian Inc. rate as full-time students for doctor and nurse care, but pay more for X-rays, lab tests, follow-up procedures and emergency room service. Ritenour receives most of its budget from a central fund that is partly funded by tuition. “It’s almost like full-time students’ having health insurance and part-time students’ not having it. If you don’t have the insurance you pay more," Fetzer said. Although a decision has not been made on whether stickers will be required for admission to the home football game opener against Rutgers on Sept. 8, stickers will definitely be required starting with the William and Mary home football game on Sept. 22, ticket manager William Meredith 111 said. Formerly, students were required to show an ID and a valid sticker along with their football ticket as proof of their student status. i “Obviously, the first game we’re playing it by ear, Meredith said. There is no deadline for obtaining a sticker in 112 Shields,.Haffner said. However, agencies that serve students on the basis of the identification sticker have been instructed to resume requiring the sticker on Sept. 8. “There is no penalty (for obtaining an identification sticker late). But after Sept. 8, service (in some agencies) will be provided on the basis of the sticker,” he said. In the Aug. 7 issue of The Daily Collegian, Richard T. Sodergren, associate registrar, said whether to use the identification stickers for the Fall Semester 1984 was being deliberated. Because many University services have computer access to student status, the lack of the identification sticker would cause no problems in most areas, he said. Haffner said officials considered abandoning the registration stickers this fall because of the new computerized registration system. “About two-thirds of the students have no reason to contact our office," Haffner said. “There is no need to come to a checkpoint under the new registration program.” * However, some student service groups and other groups decided that the sticker should be reinstated, Haffner said. $BO,OOO for Walker’s training, won’t identify the drug. Attempts to launch Discovery, the third ship in America’s shuttle fleet, were thwarted twice in June. On the first try, a computer malfunction stopped the countdown at nine-minutes-to-launch. The next day, four seconds before liftoff, computers detected a fuel valve problem and shut off the engines. The space shuttle must rendezvous with the satellite at its perigee the point in its eliptical orbit when the satellite is closest to the earth, Perry said. “The shuttle is a low orbiting vehicle and cannot reach the satellite unless it is at perigee,” he said, Perry added that some adjustment in the satellite’s orbit may be necessary before the space shuttle can reach it. Last April, the satellite was successfully placed in a transfer orbit by the space shuttle. Rockets were then to boost the satellite into a 22,000-mile geosynchronous orbit. In this orbit, the satellite circles the earth at the same speed as the earth rotates, holding the satellite stationary over one position as the earth turns, Perry said. Robert Melton, University assistant professor of aerospace engineering, said the perigee kick motor failed, causing the Palapa B-2 to tumble into a useless orbit.. Another communication satellite, the Western Union Westar 6, was also unsuccessfully launched in the same mission. The perigee kick motor on the Westar 6 is also believed to have failed, Melton said. Please see NOV. 10, Page 2. “We are convinced we had a problem called transient contamination,” in the valve, said Moore, director of the shuttle program. “We don’t expect it to occur again.” NASA, worrying that commercial customers might find its satellite delivery service unreliable, combined the payloads from the first and second Discovery flights. That added two satellites to the cargo and gives Discovery the heaviest load yet, 24 tons, to carry into orbit. If the original schedule had been followed, this would be the sixth of 10 flights of 1984. But because of the June failure and the earlier inability of three satellites to achieve usable orbits after deployment from the shuttle, it’s only the third.
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