Shuttle crew seeks safety assurance before flight
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery want assurances that the changes and improvements have been made since the Columbia disaster.By WARREN E. LEARY and JOHN SCHWARTZ
The New York Times
HOUSTON, April 7 -- The seven astronauts of the Discovery, which is to lift off next month on the first space shuttle mission since the loss of the Columbia two years ago, said Thursday that they were ready to fly. But they said they wanted assurance that all recommendations of the Columbia investigators had been satisfied.
This photo released by NASA shows the space shuttle Discovery on its final approach to the pad early Thursday, April 7. The crew of the space shuttle has sought assurances from NASA that the recommendations made after the Columbia disaster two years ago have been made. (AP Photo/NASA)"If we ever get to the point where a recommendation is not fulfilled in anyone's mind, we are not going to fly until we are ready to fly," the mission commander, Eileen M. Collins, said at a news conference at the Johnson Space Center here.
Colonel Collins, who recently retired from the Air Force, said she was confident that the shuttle had been upgraded since the Columbia disaster and that NASA was committed to a renewed emphasis on safety. "I think that we are O.K.," she said.
But she added that the crew was counting on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to comply with all 15 of the changes that the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said must be carried out before the Discovery mission.
A task force appointed by the space agency, and led by the former astronauts Thomas Stafford and Richard Covey, has fully approved NASA's compliance with about half of the recommendations. On Thursday, in their final news conference before the mission, Colonel Collins and other crew members said they would fly only if the Stafford-Covey group and the agency's leadership agreed that the conditions had been met.
"We learn more by taking risks," she said, but "we don't want to take silly risks."
After several delays, the Discovery was moved Wednesday to its launching pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle is scheduled to begin a 13-day mission to the International Space Station on May 15 or as soon afterward as flight conditions permit. If the shuttle cannot fly before June 3, what NASA calls the launching window - when conditions like the position of the space station are optimal - will close. The next window opens in July.
Crew members said the Columbia accident had increased their awareness of safety issues but did not deter their will to fly.
"It has not changed my view of the risk of spaceflight," said Dr. Charles J. Camarda, an aerospace engineer from Queens, N.Y., who will be making his first journey into space. "The risks are always going to be high."
Paul Hill, lead flight director for the shuttle mission, told another briefing that he did not believe NASA would try to get around some difficult preflight recommendations on technicalities just to resume flying again.
"We will not be taking some unreasonable or unassessed risk with the vehicle and, most importantly, the crew," Hill said.
Many things can go wrong in operating a craft as complicated as the space shuttle, he said, and NASA has to fight to keep its focus on the big picture.
"We work very hard at keeping our eyes on that," Hill said, "not just being distracted by what happened the last time."
Story Produced by: Beth Jenkins
