NASA falls short on 3 shuttle safety issues

[Guest Glenn]

Reuters

 

June 29, 2005

 

WASHINGTON: NASA failed to fully comply with three safety recommendations issued after the fatal break-up of shuttle Columbia, but available data indicates the shuttles are safe to fly, an expert panel said on Monday,

 

The panel said NASA has not eliminated the possibility that debris could fall from the shuttle's external tank and damage the spacecraft, as it did in the Columbia disaster.

 

In addition, the panel said, the space agency has not managed to sufficiently "harden" the shuttle to preclude the possibility of damage if the spacecraft is struck, and the agency has not crafted a reliable in-flight repair system in case of such critical damage.

 

However, members of the independent watchdog panel -- the Stafford-Covey Commission -- stressed that NASA had improved shuttle safety greatly in these three areas since Columbia disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members.

 

And panel members said at a news conference that while it was not up to them to decide whether the shuttle fleet should return to flight next month, as it is scheduled to do, they said NASA has gone far to comply with recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, known as CAIB.

 

"While we're saying they (NASA) may not have fully met the intent of CAIB, we're also saying they have made significant progress toward reducing the likelihood that any of these bad events will happen," retired Army Col. James Adamson, a panel member, said after the panel's final meeting.

 

"We feel that it is a safe vehicle to fly," said Joseph Cuzzupoli, another panel member. "... The data they presented to us so far says it's safe to fly."

 

Richard Covey, the panel's co-chairman and a former astronaut who flew on the first shuttle mission after the 1986 Challenger accident, said he would not have a concern about flying on shuttle Discovery, which is set for launch sometime between July 13 and July 31.

 

The three acknowledged the CAIB recommendations were extremely challenging and that in some areas, NASA went above and beyond what was recommended. And they added that they were required to give a "binary" response to NASA's progress -- a yes or no answer -- when substantial progress had been made that fell short of full compliance but was still a significant improvement.

 

Covey said the panel's full report will be given to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin before a two-day Flight Readiness Review that is set to begin on Wednesday. NASA's final decision on whether the shuttle should return to flight as scheduled is expected on Thursday.