Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings [BLAMING BUSH AGAIN? DOUBLE B.A.]

http://www.observer.co.uk/ ^ | Sunday February 2, 2003 | Peter Beaumont

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings

Peter Beaumont
Sunday February 2, 2003
The Observer

Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed.

In a letter to the White House, Don Nelson, who served with Nasa for 36 years until he retired in 1999, wrote to President George W. Bush warning that his 'intervention' was necessary to 'prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident'.

During his last 11 years at Nasa, Nelson served as a mission operations evaluator for proposed advanced space transportation projects. He was on the initial design team for the space shuttle. He participated in every shuttle upgrade until his retirement.

Listing a series of mishaps with shuttle missions since 1999, Nelson warned in his letter that Nasa management and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel have failed to respond to the growing warning signs of another shuttle accident. Since 1999 the vehicle had experienced a number of potentially disastrous problems:

· 1999 - Columbia's launch was delayed by a hydrogen leak and Discovery was grounded with damaged wiring, contaminated engine and dented fuel line;

· January 2000 - Endeavor was delayed because of wiring and computer failures;

· August 2000 - inspection of Columbia revealed 3,500 defects in wiring;

· October 2000 - the 100th flight of the shuttle was delayed because of a misplaced safety pin and concerns with the external tank;

· April 2002 - a hydrogen leak forced the cancellation of the Atlantis flight;

· July 2002 - the inspector general reported that the shuttle safety programme was not properly managed;

· August 2002 - the shuttle launch system was grounded after fuel line cracks were discovered.

Nelson's claims - which The Observer could not independently verify yesterday - emerged against a background of growing concern over the management of safety issues by Nasa.

They followed similar warnings in April last year by the former chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory panel, Richard Bloomberg, who said: 'In all of the years of my involvement, I have never been as concerned for space shuttle safety as I am right now.'

Bloomberg blamed the deferral or elimination of planned safety upgrades, a diminished workforce as a result of hiring freezes, and an ageing infrastructure for the advisory panel's findings.

His warning echoed earlier concern about key shuttle safety issues. In September 2001 at a Senate hearing into shuttle safety, senators and independent experts warned that budget and management problems were putting astronauts lives at risk. At the centre of concern were claims that a budget overspend of almost $5 billion (£3bn) had led to a culture in Nasa whereby senior managers treated shuttle safety upgrades as optional.

Among those who spoke out were Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who warned: 'I fear that if we don't provide the space shuttle programme with the resources it needs for safety upgrades, our country is going to pay a price we can't bear.

'We're starving Nasa's shuttle budget and thus greatly increasing the chance of a catastrophic loss.'

Although Nasa officials said that improvements were being made they admitted that more needed to be done.

A year earlier, a General Accounting Office report had warned that the loss of experienced engineers and technicians in the space shuttle programme was threatening the safety of future missions just as Nasa was preparing to increase its annual number of launches to build the International Space Station.

The GAO cited internal Nasa documents showing 'workforce reductions are jeopardising Nasa's ability to safely support the shuttle's planned flight rate'.

Space agency officials discovered in late 1999 that many employees didn't have the necessary skills to properly manage avionics, mechanical engineering and computer systems, according to the GAO report.

The GAO assembled a composite portrait of the shuttle programme's workforce that showed twice as many workers over 60 years of age than under 30. It assessed that the number of workers then nearing retirement could jeopardise the programme's ability to transfer leadership roles to the next generation to support the higher flight rate necessary to build the space station.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

I dont remember bush being president in 1999 i beleive he was tied up in court in 1999 till Jan 21 2001?

So how many letters did X42 get over the years or should we not open that can of dead rancid worms?

Sounds like more finger pointing to a man who had nothing to do with the problem

[Jeff Chandler]

Her we go. It's all Bush's fault...yada, yada, yada...

[OldFriend]

Ask Daniel Golden why he diverted American dollars to the Internation Space Station that was supposed to be funded by Russia. My guess is that the amount diverted to the Russian portion was probably in the hundreds of thousands. This was done at slick willie's bidding.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Stated: "Space agency officials discovered in late 1999 that many employees didn't have the necessary skills to properly manage avionics, mechanical engineering and computer systems, according to the GAO report."

Yep!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Okay, so Bush gets a letter. What was he suppposed to do? Go down to Kennedy, and inspect the shuttle himself? He delegates duties to the people responsible for fixing the problems. I am sure a copy of this man's letter was sent to anyone and everyone who would possibly listen to him. And, again, I am sure that NASA was aware that he had contacted the President. NASA must've thought the Columbia was safe, otherwise, it wouldn't have gone into space. Because, if they didn't think the shuttles were safe, they could have pushed harder for the X33.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

I am so darn tired of these lies on a good man it makes me ill to see him get blamed for everything and hes done nothing to deserve it!

[wretchard]

This disaster will almost certainly mean more money for the shuttle replacement. The existing shuttle fleet is becoming too old and small to continue for much longer. That replacement has long been in the works, but has been repeatedly delayed by budgetary starvation or NASA incompetence, depending on who you listen to.

There is blame enough to go around. Both the former President and former Congresses should have known this day would come. How many of us drive twenty four year old cars (if we could do otherwise)? As matters stand, it will take the better part of a decade to get a new vehicle up and tested.

[Fintan]

Her we go. It's all Bush's fault...yada, yada, yada...
 

This is nothing. Wait until someone in the media pulls his or her head out of Clinton's lap long enough to breathlessly report that this wouldn't have happened during his regime.

[dep]

the letter, according to the story, was sent last summer. and while one can scarcely fault the president on this, one can very easiy fault the nasa brass during the entire shuttle era. i've been hearing this kind of thing from shuttle engineers, former shuttle engineers, and even astronauts for 15 years now. there are some seriously faulty systems on the shuttle, and the number of times we almost lost a flight is about five times the number we did lose, solely by the grace of god. so while the story itself is typically flaky, there are very serious and very real things underlying it. indeed, a very good friend and former nasa safety officer killed himself when he could get no one to listen. others at nasa have done the same thing. it's no small issue.

dep

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

This is nothing. Wait until someone in the media pulls his or her head out of Clinton's lap long enough to breathlessly report that this wouldn't have happened during his regime

Actually its delayed from clintoons reign of terror so whichever one does it first should be bi*tchslapped with a ballbat.

[plain talk]

It doesn't say when the letter was written does it?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

the letter, according to the story, was sent last summer. and while one can scarcely fault the president on this, one can very easiy fault the nasa brass during the entire shuttle era

Your right it was last summer i apologize for my anger [sometimes im blinded by it] but i cant help it the president is doing everything for this country and this kind of finger pointing dribble infuriates me to no end i certainly would be the first to catch him on something that i didnt think was right but in this case i dont think hes at fault the nasa brass holds the gold ring on this one!

[liberallarry]

Bloomberg blamed the deferral or elimination of planned safety upgrades, a diminished workforce as a result of hiring freezes, and an ageing infrastructure for the advisory panel's findings

Inotherwords, a very expensive program has not been properly funded or manned. Whose fault is it? Well, how many other programs and policies can be similarly characterized - Medicare, Social Security, the Military, environmental protection? What about corporate pension plans, dot.com. businesses? How many individuals are over-extended and either bankrupt or nearly so?

Human beings conduct business in this way - and whine when the bill comes due.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

President Bush has presented bold proposals for the economy, defense and health care.

Now is the time to reinvigorate the space program.

At the memorial to the Columbia crew he should dedicate in their memory, a bold mission to Mars for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

July, 2019.

That would inspire a whole generation of young people to compete for the privilege of crewing the mission.

[CFC__VRWC]

This is nothing. Wait until someone in the media pulls his or her head out of Clinton's lap long enough to breathlessly report that this wouldn't have happened during his regime.

Actually, I'm waiting for one to wipe the drool off his/her chin and pull a Chris Matthews - whine about how their idol never got this kind of chance to look presidential.

[Sacajaweau]

It doesn't say when this was written but the Point of the letter isn't SAFETY, it is MONEY.

Would like to know who else wrote similar letters and the point of those letters.

[liberallarry]

How many of us drive twenty four year old cars (if we could do otherwise)?

The "car" was 21 years old when W. became President, 13 years old when Clinton took office. How old is too old? Should we have shut the program down because it was too expensive?

[Recovering_Democrat]

What a pile of tripe.

First of all, there are cranks in every single entity you can name. Pick a disaster or mishap or accident and you can find a Ralph Nader "I told you so" somewhere with a current or past association who'll rush to a reporter or a tv camera to claim "they were warned!!"

Secondly, to believe NASA was lacking in safety checks is to be purposely ignorant or blind of their history, especially since Challenger. They've delayed more shuttle launches than you can care to count...most of those delays are over safety issues.

Finally, the failure rate of the shuttle flights is remarkable, considering their rarity. Two missions out of what? 113? That's a 2% failure rate. Too damn high, I agree. But guess what? THIS IS ROCKET SCIENCE. Literally.

The astronauts and everyone knows the science is pushing the limits of technology and human knowledge. Incredibly, 98% of these missions are a success. America will rise above this tragic accident and learn from it.

God bless America.

[DaBroasta]

Shortly after the Challenger disaster NASA paid some consulting firm $2 million to have a safety study conducted for the shuttle program. The conclusion of this study was that there was a 50/50 chance that there would be another shuttle accident in the future. Wow, it looks like they were right. Why oh why didn't anyone listen to those amazing soothsayers? Move over Nostridamus and Ms Cleo.

[TankerKC]

Delays, cancellations, and inspections that find bad wiring are NOT "mishaps".