spacetoday.net: CAIB considers contractor review, demonstration flight

Posted: Fri, May 30, 2003, 6:36 AM ET (1036 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

Members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) said this week that a more thorough review of how NASA uses contractors is warranted, while also suggesting that a shuttle demonstration flight may be needed to prove that the shuttle is safe enough to return to service. CAIB chairman Harold Gehman said that the board is looking into issues such as whether performance-based contracts for United Space Alliance, the company that handles shuttle operations, may have jeopardized shuttle safety. Gehman said there was no evidence that USA or other companies cut corners and adversely affected safety, but that the issue warranted further investigation. Gehman said the CAIB was also considering whether NASA should perform a test flight of the shuttle before allowing it to resume normal missions to the International Space Station. The CAIB did not elucidate what such a test flight might involve, and Gehman said it would be unlikely NASA would perform such a flight. However, he said that the board would include it in its final recommendations if it felt it was required to restore shuttle safety.