27 ARRESTED AT PROTEST OF CASSINI

Facing certain arrest, 27 protesters crossed the chain-link security gate at the Cape Canaveral Air Station on Saturday to dramatize their opposition to next week’s launch of the plutonium-powered Cassini Saturn probe.

All, including a group of nine calling itself Grandmothers for Peace, were taken into custody as about 800 others who marched to the gate cheered and chanted. They had all come from a nearby rally where speaker after speaker warned that the Cassini mission could end in catastrophe.

It was a tightly choreographed demonstration. The marchers, many waving signs, marched nearly a mile down sweltering State Road 401, following a kilted bagpiper and several women carrying poles decorated with white origami doves.

Behind the gate, a long, thin line of Brevard County deputy sheriffs waited in riot helmets. It turned out they were overly prepared.

“It was outright friendly out there,” said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Joan Heller. “Everybody went along peacefully and without resistance.”

The Grandmothers contingent was the first in, led by 87-year-old Peggy McIntire. The deputies opened the gates and escorted the women into custody as the placard-waving crowd chanted, “Go Grandmothers.”

The next wave scaled the barricade with a ladder. One after another, they waved, flashed peace signs, raised fists and paused to give short speeches before dropping over into the arms of the deputies.

A large group with drums and plastic barrels beat out a rhythm, while the crowd pumped signs with such messages as “Hell No, We Won’t Glo” and “Stop The Death Ships.”

The made-for-TV protest was symbolic. The marchers knew that they would never reach their objective, the Cassini launch pad, which won’t see duty until the scheduled Oct. 13 liftoff.

“We are here to send a message opposing the weaponization of space,” said Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, which organized the protest. “We want to make people aware of what’s at stake.”

In the $3.3 billion project, Cassini is scheduled go 890 million miles away from Earth to Saturn and Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. It is supposed to fly by Earth in 1999.

Speakers from academia and environmental organizations hammered the issue home before the march. Cassini’s powerhouse is 72 pounds of plutonium, which NASA says poses almost no risk. The protesters see it very differently. They describe a list of bad outcomes, including an accident at launch and a window in 1999 when Cassini will fly by Earth and be hurled toward Saturn.

NASA puts the chances of an accident during the fly-by as one in a million.

“I’m not so concerned with a catastrophic failure on the launch pad as what will happen if Cassini plows into the atmosphere during the fly-by,” said Roderick Tirrell, conservation chair of the Broward County Sierra Club.

One man dressed as Uncle Sam worked the crowd. Many there were young, but there were also a large number who had learned about civil disobedience in an earlier era.

The Coalition for Peace and Freedom left little to chance, even distributing a typed step-by-step script of the afternoon ahead of time.

“At 3 p.m., we will walk to the main gate to the music of a bagpiper,” it said. “The music will continue to play as the walkers spread across the road and onto the grass on either side, maintaining a 50-yard line. Once everyone has arrived at the gate, the music will stop and we will be silent as Peg McIntire and the Grandmothers for Peace approach the gate and ask to be let in.”

It went off, as they say, like clockwork. Before the march began, the coalition signed up volunteers for the assault on the gate, then held a briefing telling them what to expect and the legal ramifications of arrest.

The Brevard Sheriff’s Office arrested the 27 volunteers for trespassing. Those without an arrest record would be released on their own recognizance, Heller said. Those with prior offenses would have to post a small bond or $100 cash for release.

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Alan Kobrin of Miami said he hoped they had sent a message to Washington.

“We, the taxpayers, are sending a message to those who build dangerous toys with our money,” Kobrin said. “It’s hard for me that anyone wouldn’t understand the importance of this issue to our safety and our planet.”

Originally Published: October 5, 1997 at 4:00 AM EDT