Mon, Aug 11, 2003
Chairman Dick Covey Warns Against "Go Fever"
As NASA chomps at the
bit to get the remnants of its space shuttle fleet space-bound
again, the chairman of a new task force picked by the space agency
to oversee that return to flight had some harsh words for the
program. Richard Covey, pilot of the first STS mission to fly in
the wake of the Challenger explosion, warned against what
he called "go fever," an indication that NASA might be premature in
trying to get the shuttles flying again.
"Space Flight Is Still A Risky Business"
Covey said he's not surprised at the destruction of
Columbia, which disintegrated upon re-entry February 1st,
38-miles over Texas. "Space flight is risky business and it will
remain risky business," he said. But Covey is disappointed there
were so many management mistakes similar to those that preceded
Challenger.
"Shocking? Yeah. Disappointing? Particularly when ... it has
similarities to the Challenger accident," Covey said.
Covey said his 27-member
task force, which he co-chairs with retired astronaut Tom Stafford,
may never adequately address the so-called cultural, or managerial,
issues within NASA that have already been criticized by the
Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB).
Since the Return To Flight Task Force has been ordered to issue
its final report a month before next Spring's first shuttle
mission, Covey worries that his work won't be finished in time.
Some plans and concepts, he said, will simply have to be foregone
given the tight deadline. "It would not be a complete assessment
because the real implementation may take longer," he said.
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