Mar 6 2003
From The Space Library
Four witnesses appeared before the CAIB at its first public hearing. Director of NASA's JSC Jefferson D. Howell Jr. and Space Shuttle Program Manager Ronald D. Dittemore spoke about workforce issues, particularly, about NASA's concern regarding the erosion of its skill base. Keith Chong, a senior scientist at the Boeing Company, discussed Boeing's work on the foam insulation applied to large propellant tanks such as the Shuttle's external tank and the Boeing Delta 4 booster. Henry McDonald, former Director of NASA's ARC, discussed the Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT), which he had led before leaving NASA. The SIAT report had identified problems within the Shuttle program. McDonald expressed disappointment that NASA had not implemented some of the SIAT's recommendations. He said that he believed some of the recommended improvements, such as modernized records, could have significantly influenced decisions that NASA had based on risk assessments. (Leonard David, “Columbia Accident Hearing Probes NASA Workforce Erosion, Shuttle Safety Issues,” Space.com, 6 March 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_hearing_030306.html (accessed 29 August 2008); Matthew L. Wald, “NASA Records in Disarray, Study Leader Tells Board,” New York Times, 7 March 2003.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
