Sat, Aug 09, 2003
With One Eye On Spring Shuttle Launch, Agency Vows Not To Fight
CAIB Recommendations
NASA's deputy
administrator this week said his agency won't challenge any of the
recommendations from the Columbia Accident Investigation
Board (CAIB), even as it gears up for what it hopes will be a
Spring, 2004, return to flight. But in the rush to get shuttles
back into orbit, the question is, will NASA really be willing to
change the way it thinks? Nobody at the space agency is willing to
say.
New Launch Window
Deputy administrator Fred Gregory, associate administrator for
space flight Bill Readdy and associate administrator for safety
Bryan O'Connor told reporters on Tuesday they're aiming for a very
specific launch window to resume shuttle flights: March 11 to April
6.
“Is March ambitious? Probably,” Readdy said. Then he
and the other top dogs went into the first-ever meeting of the
Stafford-Covey Return To Flight Task Force, a 27-member body that
is charged with implementing the CAIB recommendations.
“There will be no attempt
whatsoever to argue or defend a recommendation from the
CAIB,” Gregory said. “The board has not published the
report yet and I may have to back off a little bit ... but my
assumption is that we would follow to the letter the
recommendations.”
Columbia, of course, disintegrated 38 miles over Texas
on February 1st, as it re-entered the atmosphere after a two-week
mission. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
What's Wrong With NASA Culture?
So what's all this about a culture change? CAIB members have
cited an attitude of superiority at NASA, fear that lower-level
employees would exact retribution for change-making decisions,
problems in communicating and strained relations among NASA
workers.“It would be difficult for me to define to you what
the NASA culture is,” Gregory said. “As I sit here, I
have three astronauts here. I suspect that if you try to determine
what the culture of the three of us is, you would find that there
are three different cultures here.”
Returning to flight may take more time than Gregory initially
thought. Keep that launch window open.
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