Posted on 03/24/2005 3:19:28 PM PST by BenLurkin
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA said Tuesday it will institute strict crowd control for space shuttle launches and landings, and rely more on a seldom-used touchdown site in New Mexico, to better protect the public once flights resume in a few months. Columbia's breakup during re-entry forced a re-evaluation of the space agency's public safety policy. More than 85,000 pounds of debris rained down on Texas and Louisiana as Columbia headed toward its Cape Canaveral landing strip in February 2003. No one was injured by the falling pieces.
"Philosophically, what we're trying to do … is to ensure that whatever it is we're doing, does not add significantly to the overall risk that the public already accepts," said Bryan O'Connor, chief of safety and mission assurance and a former shuttle commander.
No one on the ground has ever been hurt by a U.S. spaceflight.
Kennedy Space Center will remain the primary landing site, but only if the shuttle has no problems that might endanger people on the ground, such as a problem with the flight-control system or damage to the ship's thermal skin.
In that case, the shuttle would be directed to White Sands, N.M., a remote, dusty missile range that has seen a shuttle landing only once, back in 1982.
Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base will remain the primary backup landing site for reasons such as inclement weather in Florida. White Sands will be used in the case of emergency with the shuttle that could be a risk to people on the ground.
The decision pushes a chapter of Antelope Valley history a few pages further into the past.
During the initial space shuttle landings, all at Edwards, thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of people turned out, treating Rogers Dry Lake as a kind of Mecca for space fans.
President Ronald Reagan personally welcomed home space shuttle astronauts during a pilgrimage out to Edwards.
Crowd interest in space is now shifting to Mojave, recently certified as the civilian spaceport where designer Burt Rutan's team at Scaled Composites is working on the next stage in private sector spaceflight. Thousands turned out last year to witness SpaceShipOne soar from its berth on the White Knight "mother ship" and claim the Ansari X Prize as the first private sector craft to achieve manned spaceflight.
O'Connor said that when Discovery lifts off on the first post-Columbia flight, as early as mid-May, it will be the first shuttle mission in which public safety is factored into deciding where to bring the spacecraft home.
"This is a risk trade," O'Connor said. "You'd have to be sure that all other things being equal, that you have good weather there, that there's not some other matter like, for example, crew safety or you're about to run out of consumables because you've already been on orbit for a couple of days, waiting to come down. All those things will be factored in, but for the first time now, public safety will be one of those factors."
As for shuttle launches, the number of people allowed to gather at the three- to four-mile safety perimeter will be greatly reduced, as will the size of the crowd at the Kennedy runway for landing. NASA will also bar people from being beneath the final glide path.
Unlike an airplane, a space shuttle glides to a landing and cannot change its flight path once the braking rockets are fired one hour before touchdown.
In unveiling the 288-page plan, NASA said it is looking increasingly difficult to stick to the May 15 launch date for Discovery, which is still in the hangar undergoing last-minute repairs and inspections. Shuttle program manager Bill Parsons said he will re-evaluate the launch date in mid-April.
The delays in getting the shuttle ready to be moved to the launch pad - a step now targeted for early April - are for technical reasons, such as wiring inspections and landing-gear checks.
As far as meeting the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's 15 recommendations for resuming shuttle flights, seven have been fully met and another is on the verge of being fulfilled. Of the remaining seven, virtually all of the necessary paperwork has been submitted to the task force that is overseeing NASA's return-to-flight effort.
The task force will meet March 31 to consider NASA's progress.
NASA estimates the return-to-flight expenses will exceed $1.6 billion.
Valley Press Editor Dennis Anderson and Valley Press aerospace writer Allison Gatlin contributed to this report.
Will they be passing out hard hats next?
Millions of people are at risk daily of airliners falling on them during takeoffs and landings. What are we gonna do about them???
Sheesh. NASA's overreacting.
What they are saying is that if it looks like there may be a screwup they want as few witnesses as possible.
Damn. I forgot that image. A bad Saturday.
Well, if you don't count the big, giant, hypersonic S-turns that it does to bleed off energy, I guess that's true.
LOL, you had to mention that didn't you. You're right. Perhaps what they meant to say was that the general flight path was a forgone conclusion at that point, but even that is somewhat untrue.
NASA negligence destroyed 2 shuttles already.
If an American corporation ignored damage that resulted in catastrophic death, it would be sued out of existence.
Yet NASA carries on, without anyone being fired, only because it is gov't.
As I recall, Columbia never got to that point in the landing sequence. It broke up while still entering the atmosphere. It was a ballistic path from the de-orbit burn to breakup.
Although not really germane to what I was commenting on, the flight computer had just started the program for these turns when the shuttle broke up. Pretty good end of Columbia timetable is here
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