 |  | | | | NASA Begins to Make Plans to Return Shuttles to Flight
|
05.05.03
|
 Space Shuttle in orbit with payload bay doors open.
As it awaits the findings of the Columbia Accident Investigation
Board, NASA is taking the first steps toward returning the Space
Shuttle fleet to flight.
Bill Readdy, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Office
of Space Flight, has ordered the creation of a Return to Flight
team. He has charged the team with examining a number of issues
in preparation for getting the Shuttles flying again.
"We want to get the team focused on the Return to Flight effort,"
Mr. Readdy says. A three-time Shuttle astronaut, Mr. Readdy says
he is motivated by a promise he made to the families of the seven
astronauts who died February 1, when the Columbia broke up over
Texas. He has told the families that NASA will "honor the crew
by returning to flight."
The three remaining Shuttles in the NASA fleet -- Endeavour,
Atlantis, and Discovery -- have been grounded until the cause
of the Columbia accident can be determined and safety changes implemented.
With that in mind, Mr. Readdy has asked the Return to Flight team
to examine five issues that have been widely discussed in the aftermath
of the Columbia tragedy. He has tasked the team with, among other
things, taking a fresh look at the insulating foam on the Shuttle's
External Tank, options for repairing thermal protection tiles in
orbit, and policies regarding obtaining images of the Shuttle in
flight.
"That is the elephant in the room," Mr. Readdy says. "Are
we going to ignore those [issues]? Hardly.
We can't ignore those. We don't want to ignore those.
We want to find out what happened. We want to know whether there
are ways we could improve our process."
The findings of the CAIB will direct subsequent steps to Return
to Flight. The board is expected to make wide-ranging recommendations
to NASA based on what it determines to be the primary and contributing
causes of the Columbia accident.
The Return to Flight team has been told to complete their initial
tasks in time to support the earliest possible launch date, which
would be this fall. But NASA officials say it could take months
longer to prepare the Shuttles to fly again.
"We are trying to anticipate and get ahead of the things that
we see," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe says, "to
think in terms, very constructively, of the kinds of pre-launch,
on-orbit, and after-landing kinds of changes; to get ourselves
ready to prepare to move ahead."
Shortly after the Columbia tragedy, President Bush pledged that
space exploration would continue.
"Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration
of discovery and the longing to understand," he said. "Our
journey into space will go on."
05.5.03 - The Space Shuttle Program 2020 Assessment was a NASA effort commissioned in March 2002 to identify future investments required to safely and effectively fly Shuttle through the year 2020. The PDF file includes a summary and set of charts.
+ View Acrobat PDF (5 Mb)
03.14.03 - Press met with NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe and Associate Administrator for Space
Flight Bill Readdy to discuss activities undertaken by NASA to ensure
safe flight of the Space Shuttle fleet upon conclusion of the independent
Columbia Accident Investigation Board.
+
View 03.14.03 transcript in Acrobat PDF (306 Kb)
+
View letter in Acrobat PDF (306 Kb)
+ View
chart in Acrobat PDF (306 Kb)
|
| |
