XPost: sci.space.shuttle, sci.space.policy   
   From: abrigon@yahoo.com   
      
   Any chance they will build a new shuttle? Enterprise, can it be made   
   operational versus a test bed?   
      
   Mike   
      
      
   Don Corleone wrote:   
   >   
   > NASA May Face Shuttle Worker Shortage, Report Says   
   >   
   > May 19, 2004  By Broward Liston   
   >   
   > CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's efforts to return its aging   
   > space shuttles to flight will siphon so many workers away from   
   > operations to work on safety that the program could be plagued by a   
   > worker shortage in the future, an oversight group warned on Wednesday.   
   >   
   > Since the fatal Columbia crash in 2003, NASA has created three new   
   > departments focused on safety and engineering, making them independent   
   > of the shuttle program and its concerns about budget and on-time   
   > flights.   
   >   
   > But those new departments are being staffed by workers drawn from   
   > other shuttle operations who are not necessarily being replaced, said   
   > the Return to Flight Task Force, which is charged with verifying   
   > whether the space agency has complied with post-Columbia safety   
   > mandates.   
   >   
   > "At some point, the ability of the Space Shuttle Program to carry out   
   > its mission may be hampered by personnel shortages," the task force   
   > wrote in an interim report.   
   >   
   > The new departments are still being organized and the report did not   
   > identify the number of workers involved, nor did it offer a   
   > recommendation.   
   >   
   > NASA's three remaining shuttles are scheduled to fly until   
   > construction of the International Space Station is complete, around   
   > the end of the decade. The job could require as many as 30 flights   
   > although that number is likely to be reduced.   
   >   
   > The space agency's efforts generally got good marks from the task   
   > force, co-chaired by Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford and retired   
   > shuttle commander Richard Covey.   
   >   
   > With the first post-Columbia flight now scheduled for March or April   
   > 2005, NASA has given itself time to actually implement some safety   
   > measures where the Columbia Accident Investigation Board had only   
   > required plans, the task force said.   
   >   
   > NASA has cleared three of 15 preflight requirements, by task-force   
   > estimates, while making "substantial progress" on the remaining 12.   
   >   
   > But the report concluded that NASA may never be certain it has solved   
   > the problem that doomed Columbia, which was foam debris breaking off   
   > the external fuel tank and striking the orbiter with tremendous force.   
   >   
   > In Columbia's case, it gouged a large hole into the leading edge of   
   > the wing that made the spacecraft break apart as it re-entered the   
   > atmosphere.   
   >   
   > The kind of statistical studies of in-flight accidents needed to   
   > complete a debris study may not be finished before the shuttles are   
   > retired, the report said.   
   >   
   > While President Bush's plan to mothball the fleet and shift NASA's   
   > focus to exploration of the moon and Mars "has obvious implications   
   > for the long-run use of the shuttle," the report concluded that "no   
   > matter how long the shuttle is used in the future, it must first be   
   > safely returned to flight."   
   >   
   >   
      
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