spacetoday.net: Report concludes NASA still far from shuttle return to flight

Posted: Thu, Jan 22, 2004, 10:52 AM ET (1552 GMT)
STS-107: launch (NASA/KSC)

An interim report by an independent task force concluded this week that NASA, while making progress on returning the shuttle to flight, still has considerable work ahead of it before the shuttle can launch again. The Stafford-Covey Task Group, established last summer by NASA to oversee how the agency is following the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), found that NASA has taken steps to address all 29 of the CAIB's recommendations. However, progress on implementing those recommendations has varied, and the task force concluded that the agency still has considerable work ahead of it before it can implement all of the return-to-flight recommendations. The report also criticized NASA for not being forthcoming with some of the information the task force has requested. NASA is currently planning the next shuttle launch, STS-114, for a month-long window that opens September 12; the task force's report made no conclusions regarding whether the shuttle will be ready to launch then.