[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.

[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.

[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

[plain talk]

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

[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.

[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".

[jlogajan]

The fingerpointing begins.

[mrfixit514]

This whistleblower is no Nostradamus. It is a pretty safe bet that eventually there will be an accident.

[Liberatio]

Sounds like a Clinton Administration problem. Fox News showed the budget for NASA (most likely reduction in proper procedure followed) and then rise in the last two years. Makes me wonder.

[Liberatio]

The effects of the budget cuts would not be felt for a while after they happen. It is rarely immediate, kinda like the economy. I cringed when I heard of a politician saying they are dedicated to finding out what happend and they will make sure it doesn't happen again. I knew it would happen. I think it was Bailey Hutchinson(sp?) of Texas. The space program is the best thing for America because it gives so much back.

[Alberta's Child]

I think the bigger issue in the aftermath of this disaster is whether the shuttle program is worthwhile at all. I'm convinced that 95% of the shuttle's functions can be performed by unmanned spacecraft, and the cost of launching such spacecraft would be much lower because they wouldn't have to be terribly concerned about the human element.

Heck, they could even try to launch the things in a hurricane if they wanted to, and if it crashed then the only concern would be how much money they've lost.

[Mr. Silverback]

Though I'm sure the libs will happily try to blame this on Dubya, I think it likely that "repeated warnings" have been going on for quite some time and are inconsequential even in light of today's catastrophe. The fleet is aging, and no matter how careful NASA is there are going to be people who want the program shut down. Post-Challenger it was estimated that we'd lose a crew about every 75 flights, and there were people who heard that and went ape. They couldn't imagine taking that much risk, but if it were about absolute safety, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and , yes, the Shuttle, would never have been launched.

The new frontier will cost us lives. That is the nature of frontiers. But the only ship that is safe is the one that stays in harbor, and that ship accomplishes nothing.

BTW, I wonder how many of the folks who will scream their regrets at the age of the shuttles are the same people who can't see a reason that we need another $40 billion to fight a world war, or understand why we need to replace a KC-135 fleet that is about to hit 50 years of operation.

[cubreporter]

Wow, they now have something new they can try to pin on our dear President. They are so stupid. The American people hear nothing but Bush bashing from the dems/libs. The American people can see for themselves what a good man George Bush is and the dems/libs are only digging themselves a deeper hole. I hope they keep it up. It's coming back to bite 'em in the ole behind.

[Vinnie]

Most dems silent today. They are huddling, working on the 'blame Bush' talking points.
Just wait, it's coming.

[pttttt]

Here's a link to the GAO report: GAO Report on Space Shuttle Workforce. The report came out while Clinton was still President.

There are broader problems. In the US, the incentives aren't there to take up or stay in aeronautical engineering or space program work, yet these are important elements of our national strength. There's too much downside if you're trying to support a family. The people left doing it are often doing it out of pure patriotism and hanging on by their fingernails.

No one should blame Bush; he's had a lot on his plate lately and maybe the NASA management has failed him by not briefing him on the true situation with an aging shuttle fleet and an underfunded program.

For other GAO reports, go to GAO and e.g. search under "NASA".