Chairman Dick Covey Warns Against "Go Fever"

As NASA chomps at the bit to get the remnants of its space shuttle fleet space-bound again, the chairman of a new task force picked by the space agency to oversee that return to flight had some harsh words for the program. Richard Covey, pilot of the first STS mission to fly in the wake of the Challenger explosion, warned against what he called "go fever," an indication that NASA might be premature in trying to get the shuttles flying again.

"Space Flight Is Still A Risky Business"

Covey said he's not surprised at the destruction of Columbia, which disintegrated upon re-entry February 1st, 38-miles over Texas. "Space flight is risky business and it will remain risky business," he said. But Covey is disappointed there were so many management mistakes similar to those that preceded Challenger.

"Shocking? Yeah. Disappointing? Particularly when ... it has similarities to the Challenger accident," Covey said.

Covey said his 27-member task force, which he co-chairs with retired astronaut Tom Stafford, may never adequately address the so-called cultural, or managerial, issues within NASA that have already been criticized by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB).

Since the Return To Flight Task Force has been ordered to issue its final report a month before next Spring's first shuttle mission, Covey worries that his work won't be finished in time. Some plans and concepts, he said, will simply have to be foregone given the tight deadline. "It would not be a complete assessment because the real implementation may take longer," he said.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.caib.gov