All 11 Members Resign From NASA Safety Panel
NASA’s chief accepted the resignations of all 11 members and consultants on a key aerospace safety advisory panel.
The head of the panel, which was first chartered after the fatal 1967 Apollo 1 fire, was criticized for failing to have the clout to prevent the Feb. 1 shuttle Columbia disaster, which killed seven astronauts.
The panel’s chief, Shirley McCarty, said in a letter to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe: “This will give you and the Congress the freedom to revitalize the panel and reshape its charter and mission.”
O’Keefe noted that the board investigating the accident had faulted the U.S. space agency’s “broken safety culture,” and said in a statement that “a wide range of oversight functions should be strengthened” at NASA.
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