spacetoday.net: Shuttle board offers mixed review on NASA plans

Posted: Fri, Sep 12, 2003, 9:50 AM ET (1350 GMT)
STS-107: launch (NASA/KSC)

An independent shuttle return-to-flight panel said Thursday that it saw no evidence of schedule pressures on the shuttle program, but added that NASA’s plan to return the shuttle to flight falls short in some organizational areas. The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group, co-chaired by former astronauts Tom Stafford and Richard Covey, said that while NASA is planning the next shuttle mission for as early as March 2004, they see no evidence that NASA is pushing too hard for a launch then, and instead treating it as a "not earlier than" date. The board noted, though, that NASA has yet to come up with detailed responses to recommendations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board dealing with NASA's organizational structure for shuttle flights, including creation of an Independent Technical Authority that would oversee shuttle safety. Covey also noted that the panel is not charged with overseeing reforms to NASA’s culture, as recommended by the CAIB, only with preparations for returning the shuttle to flight. NASA also said Thursday that it was planning to move the Columbia debris recovered to date — about 38,600 kilograms — from the hangar where analysis was performed to an unused room in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The debris will remain available for investigators and scientists, although NASA has not decided if any debris will be put on public display.