Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Walks Out

The New York Times reports that, "All nine members of a panel of outside experts, established by Congress to advise NASA on safety, resigned on Monday, with several citing frustration over their lack of influence."

The panel itself had existed since the Apollo 1 fire that claimed the lives of astronauts Grissom, White, and Chaffee, in 1967. NASA had used the panel as a handy scapegoat, according to the report; and the Senate Appropriations Committee had criticized the panel, as well, for not getting in front of the causes of the Columbia breakup. The Times said, "...the Columbia investigators noted that the advisory panel had complained in 1995 that NASA officials were treating the space shuttle as mature, and that the situation 'smacks of a complacency which may lead to serious mishaps.' The Columbia investigators found just such complacency leading up to the accident on Feb. 1 that destroyed the shuttle."

The "independent" panel, the paper noted, was comprised of NASA employees, right down to the Panel Chairwoman, Shirley C. McCarty.

Panelists apparently had been able to accept their pay quietly for years, and have their work ignored; but when they were flogged in public, it was just too much. The salary just wouldn't cover the public exposure.

FMI: www.nasa.gov