Tue, Aug 26, 2003
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has presented
its final report on the causes of the February 1, 2003 Space
Shuttle accident to the White House, Congress and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The CAIB report concludes that while NASA's present Space
Shuttle is not inherently unsafe, a number of mechanical fixes are
required to make the Shuttle safer in the short term. The report
also concludes that NASA's management system is unsafe to manage
the shuttle system beyond the short term and that the agency does
not have a strong safety culture.
The Board determined
that physical and organizational causes played an equal role in the
Columbia accident -- that the NASA organizational culture
had as much to do with the accident as the foam that struck the
Orbiter on ascent. The report also notes other significant factors
and observations that may help prevent the next accident.
The Board crafted the report to serve as a framework for a
national debate about the future of human space flight, but
suggests that it is in the nation's interest to replace the Shuttle
as soon as possible as the primary means for transporting humans to
and from Earth orbit.
The Board makes 29 recommendations in the 248-page final report,
including 15 return-to-flight recommendations that should be
implemented before the Shuttle Program returns to flight.
The report, which consists of 11 chapters grouped into three
main sections, was the result of a seven-month-long investigation
by the CAIB's 13 board members, more than 120 investigators, 400
NASA and contractor employees, and more than 25,000 searchers who
recovered Columbia's debris.
Over the next several weeks, the Board expects to publish
several additional volumes containing technical documents cited in
the report or referenced as part of the investigation, as well as
transcripts of the board's public hearings.
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