A special NASA-convened watchdog group is coming up to speed in judging the agency's readiness in restarting space shuttle missions -- now not likely to occur any earlier than March 11. What remains a sticky issue, however, is how best NASA can maintain a constant vigil in assuring safe shuttle flights in the future.
The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (RTFTG) is co-chaired by two veteran astronauts, retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general and Apollo commander Thomas P. Stafford and space shuttle commander Richard O. Covey.
Central duty of the RTFTG is performing an independent appraisal of NASA's actions to implement the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB).
Implement the intent
In a September 11 press meeting held at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, RTFTG co-chair Richard Covey detailed the Task Group's work-in-progress. The group had just wrapped up two-and-a-half days of fact-finding at the hub of the space agency's human spaceflight program.
The Task Group is comprised of over two-dozen individuals chosen from among industry, academia and government experts. The initial budget for the oversight group is $2 million, and the Task Group duration is two years, unless terminated sooner by the NASA Administrator.
Covey said that a large part of the Task Group's job is overseeing NASA response to the CAIB's set of 15 return-to-flight recommendations. The group is organized into technical, operations, and management panels, he said.
Earlier this week, the space agency issued a return-to-flight implementation plan, best termed as "a living document," Covey said.
"I think they have a very comprehensive plan at this point to address most of the CAIB recommendations," Covey said. However, the just-released NASA implementation plan is going to change "in order to meet the intent of the CAIB recommendations," he added.
Return to flight date
NASA's implementation plan proposes a launch date window for STS-114 from March 11 to April 6.
"The space shuttle program has been pretty clear that schedule is not a drivera forcing factor on their implementation of the [CAIB] recommendations," Covey told reporters. "So terminology they want to use, and we certainly encourage them to use, is to look at that as a 'no earlier than' date," he said.
Covey said his personal view is that the workforce readying the next shuttle for flight -- both in a normal workflow fashion, as well as those involved in instigating the CAIB recommendations -- need a target date.
"I think having a 'no earlier than date' is okayprobably necessary," Covey said.
The former astronaut noted that there will be cases where the intent of the CAIB recommendations "may prove difficult to meet in a certain time frame." Alternative ways to meet the intent of those recommendations may be suggested, he said.
"That is where we [the Task Force] could weigh in and identify whether those alternatives are appropriate and do they, in a way, meet the intent of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board," Covey said. "Our assessment will, by nature, be completed no earlier than one month before the next flightwhenever that is," he added.
Challenger revisited
NASA announced in July plans to create an independent Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. That center, drawing on the talents of some 250 people throughout NASA, would provide comprehensive examination of all NASA programs and projects. The NESC will report to former Kennedy Space Center director, and newly appointed Langley director, Roy Bridges.
"Right now, we're not sure how the agency sees that fitting in the recommendations of the CAIB," Covey said. Role of the NESC in shuttle return to flight actions are likely to become clearer in the days to come, he said.
Covey said that recommendations stemming from the Challenger accident in January 1986 did not last. "I think that's what the CAIB is sayingthere was a shift in the way the agency approached the same issues," he said.
How do you keep that from happening again?
There's no easy answer, Covey said. As did the CAIB, the U.S. Congress is "struggling with that issue," he noted.
"I think there's a lot of room, still, for sorting out how the longer term ramifications of the [CAIB] recommendations are upheld and adhered to," Covey said.
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