NASA Safety Gains May Be Transient, Panel Says

A task force charged with assessing safety at NASA said Tuesday that attitudes in the space agency have improved but “there is still a lack of talent” to assure accident-free flights after the first post-Challenger shuttle mission.

The committee said in a report that it found no significant safety issues to stand in the way of the Discovery flight, tentatively scheduled for early September, but that “deficiencies in people, skills, management systems and independent safety oversight functions” remained.

Discovery Moved to Pad

The report card on safety, requested by a House subcommittee that oversees space flight, was made public a day after Discovery was rolled out to the launching pad at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

“The new launch decision management system is thorough and provides for a healthy redundancy of safety reviews and oversights,” the committee said, and by proper use of the new systems “the safety concerns for the next flight should be adequately addressed.”

In August last year, the same committee--composed of people within and outside the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--was critical of NASA operations, saying safety concerns had given way to business as usual and “an alarming vacillation in safety emphasis and management.”

Since then, the new study said, some of the most talented NASA engineers and managers have been transferred into top management positions in agency safety organizations. Many of them, it noted, will be transferred back to their primary jobs after the Discovery flight.

“There is still some concern that the depth of experienced, skilled and competent people is too shallow,” the report said. “After the first-line safety organization management, there is still a lack of talent. This should improve with time, as employees learn by example and from the new managers.”

The committee recommended formal training and rotation of people to and from safety organizations and other programs.

Safety Given Top Priority

It noted that safety issues and identifying hazards and controls on the manned space flight program had been given highest priority in the activities to return to flight.

But it said that “the question of how to continue the safety effort” after the Discovery flight worried many NASA managers.

“It is certain that the level of effort exhibited in the respite between launches cannot be maintained,” the panel said. “An ongoing system must be set up.”