WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers had plenty of questions, criticisms and support for NASA Wednesday during the opener of what promises to be a long season of hearings into the causes and consequences of the Feb. 1 Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) chairman, retired U.S. Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, and NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe were called to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee, whose members reaffirmed their commitment to space exploration but were just as quick to chastise NASA management for allowing the accident to happen in the first place.
The many factors that contributed to the accident, said the committees chairman, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), largely demonstrate how far NASA has regressed.
Sen. Ernest Hollings (S.C.), the committees ranking Democrat and one of the most senior members of the Senate, expressed frustration at what he sees as a NASA that remains little changed since the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident.
Theres no education in the second kick of a mule, Hollings said. Im hearing the same things I listened to 17 years ago.
Most members heaped praise on the thoroughness of the review boards report and NASAs cooperation in the investigation. But there were exceptions. Hollings said he was disappointed that the report stopped short of assigning responsibility for the accident to specific individuals. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said he wished the board had gone further in its analysis of the role contractors played in the accident.
Attempts by the lawmakers to pin OKeefe down on budget numbers related to returning NASAs three remaining orbiters to flight and implementing the full range of the boards recommendations proved futile.
The most persistent effort was made by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). After OKeefe dodged her question about the likely cost of returning to flight by saying NASAs 2004 budget request includes sufficient funds for microgravity research, Hutchison asked Gehman to confirm that the changes recommended by the board are not without budget implications.
Gehman said establishing an Independent Technical Authority to oversee space shuttle technical requirements and recertifying the remaining orbiters for service beyond 2010 are expensive propositions.
When asked again whether NASA would require additional funding from Congress, OKeefe acknowledged that certain activities, such as establishing the Independent Technical Authority, recertifying the shuttle fleet, and accelerating by two years a proposed shuttle alternative dubbed the Orbital Space Plane, currently are not in NASAs budget. But OKeefe would not be pinned down on a number.
When Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) asked OKeefe if he had asked the White House to request $1.5 billion in supplemental funding for the year ahead, OKeefe would say only that discussions are taking place between NASA and the White House.
I dont want to get into a discussion of the current state of play or what the numbers might be, OKeefe said. They really run the gamut.
Also during the hearing:
OKeefe said a preliminary return to flight plan for the orbiter fleet would be released this week. The first part of the plan would focus on the 15 recommendations the board wants implemented before the first shuttle rolls out to the launch pad. The second part of the plan would focus on the other 14 longer-term recommendations as well as some requirements NASA intends to impose upon the space shuttle program.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called for NASA to complete within three to six months a cost benefit analysis of the human spaceflight program. OKeefe vowed to give it [his] best shot.
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