After an expert NASA panel warned last year that safety troubles loomed
for the fleet of shuttles if the space agency's budget was not increased,
NASA removed five of its nine members and two of its consultants. Some of
them now say the agency was trying to suppress their criticisms.
A sixth member, a retired three-star admiral, Bernard Kauderer, was so
upset at the firings that he quit the group, NASA's Aerospace Safety
Advisory Panel, a group of industry and academic experts charged with
monitoring safety at the space agency.
NASA says it changed the charter of the group so that new members,
younger and more skilled, could be added. "It had nothing to do with
shooting the messenger," said Sonja Alexander, a spokeswoman at NASA
headquarters in Washington.
One of those who found himself pushed off the panel said that was
exactly what was going on. "We were telling it like it was and were
disagreeing with some of the agency's actions," said Dr. Seymour Himmel, a
shuttle expert who served on the panel for two decades.
The eight departed panel members and consultants had long experience
with the shuttles' systems and their troubles. In interviews on Sunday,
some said NASA had developed an institutional myopia about the panel's
warnings, advice and observations, however pointed.
Members of Congress who heard testimony from the panel last spring said
Sunday that they would re-examine whether budget constraints had
undermined safety, but several said they doubted it. The Bush
administration said it would propose a $470 million increase in NASA
spending today, when it presents a federal budget to Congress, and that
the increase was planned before the Columbia's destruction.
The panel's most recent report, which came out last March and included
analyses by the six departed members, warned that work on long-term
shuttle safety "had deteriorated." Tight budgets, it said, were forcing an
emphasis on short-term planning and adding to a backlog of planned
improvements. It called for sweeping change.
'PLANTING THE SEEDS' FOR DISASTER
"I have never been as worried for space shuttle safety as I am right
now," Dr. Richard Blomberg, the report's chairman, told Congress in April.
"All of my instincts suggest that the current approach is planting the
seeds for future danger."
Even the director of the private consortium that presently manages half
of the space shuttle budget had predicted before the accident that the
program was headed for serious trouble. "I am more pessimistic today than
I have been in the 17 years I have been doing this," said Michael
McCulley, the director of United Space Alliance, at a Senate hearing in
September 2001.
Referring to the looming challenges of replacing a wide range of aging
shuttle components and support equipment, McCulley said, "The ice is
getting thinner under our feet as we move toward the middle of this lake."
Since he spoke, NASA's space shuttle budget has been increased by more
than $100 million. But at the same time, several repairs deemed critical
to improving crew safety -- such as a redesign of its internal warning
sensors and the replacement of a hazardous internal power unit -- were
deferred by the Bush administration because they cost too much.
Leading members of congressional committees with oversight of the space
program promised Sunday that they would investigate whether the budget
policies of the administration and Congress were a factor in the loss of
the shuttle.
"A large part of our inquiry will be examining what policies
contributed to the loss of the Columbia and what policies should follow
the tragedy," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., who heads the House
Science Committee. But he said he believed the agency had been adequately
funded. "Have we done the right things? he said. "I think the answer is
yes."
SHORTCHANGED BY SPACE STATION
As recently as last week, the General Accounting Office said the space
agency was continuing to be challenged by shortages of trained staff. Over
the years other panels have issued similar reports. For example, a NASA
committee reported in 2000 that more money and staff were needed to
support operations critical to shuttle safety.
Some lawmakers also contend that the shuttle program has been
shortchanged in recent years while the international space station now
under construction experienced cost overruns. They said budget problems
prevented NASA from initiating safety upgrades in the shuttle.
Staff members at the House Science Committee, which delivered the main
congressional report on the 1986 Challenger explosion, were researching
records of the Challenger inquiry Sunday. They were also trying to
assemble comprehensive data on the NASA budget to show precisely the
history of funding on the shuttle program and shuttle safety.
"We are going to let everything see the light of day," said Boehlert,
who said an initial review could find no evidence that Congress ever
denied a NASA request for resources pinned to safety.
Lawmakers and other space experts on Capitol Hill, however, said it is
no secret that NASA has had major difficulties with programs and personnel
issues.
"NASA has got a lot of problems, there is no question about it," said
one senior official. "They have been under a lot of scrutiny because of
some high- profile screwups and the enormous cost overruns in the space
station."
The Washington Post contributed to this
report
