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]

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".