New NASA chief pledges to keep eye on safety
Michael Griffin says, however, that he would consider shuttle launch without advisory committee’s blessing.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said Monday he will consider allowing the space shuttle to be launched next month without the blessing of a federal advisory committee overseeing the agency's recovery from the Columbia disaster.
In his first news conference, the newly seated leader said it will be up to program and project managers to prove to him that the shuttle fleet is ready to return to flight after more than two years on the ground. "Advisory groups advise. The NASA line managers have the responsibility for executing the program," he told reporters.
The shuttle selected to fly the comeback mission, Discovery, is being prepared for liftoff as early as May 15. A stack of close-out paperwork, a major internal technical review and several unmet requirements of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and NASA's Return to Flight Task Group still stand in the way.
The task group, headed by two former astronauts, is assessing NASA's response to 15 key recommendations made by the accident investigators. The group postponed release of its final report last month, saying it did not have enough information to determine whether the agency had satisfied eight of the recommendations.
One sticking point is the safety and reliability of methods NASA has developed for repairing the space shuttle's delicate heat shield in flight. Columbia's destruction and the deaths of seven astronauts on Feb. 1, 2003, were caused by heat shield damage that happened during the shuttle's launch that Jan. 16.
Griffin said the Return to Flight Task Group's assessment will be taken into account in any decision to launch or postpone the 12-day mission, but will not necessarily be the final word.
In any event, Griffin vowed, NASA's leadership will not lose sight of safety. "I will make certain that everyone has made the most convincing technical arguments," he said. "I want to make sure that we leave absolutely no stone unturned in making sure that we are as safe as we know how to be in flying."
Griffin was in Florida Tuesday to attend the last major technical review, a design certification for the winged shuttle orbiter.