Cutbacks and reorganisations over the past several years have resulted in problems related to workforce size, critical skills and the extent of on-the-job experience," the panel said. "Nevertheless," it warned Thursday in its annual report, "workforce issues remain among the most serious safety concerns of the panel. The panel, which was formed in the wake of the deadly Apollo spacecraft fire in 1967, stressed that safety consciousness remains high at NASA. And that has the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel worried. With the wiring problems behind them and the space station setbacks being tackled more aggressively, shuttle managers hope to launch nine times in 2001 - triple the 1999 rate. NASA is coming off its slowest year in a decade because of damaged shuttle wiring and stalled work on the international space station. The results will be used by the Defense Department for security purposes, as well as by environmentalists, airlines and emergency relief groups.Īn aerospace safety panel, meanwhile, is raising concern over what will happen once the number of shuttle flights picks up. If all goes well, more than 70 percent of the Earth's terrain will be mapped. A large antenna anchored in the shuttle cargo bay will bounce radar signals off the Earth's surface the signals will be received by both that antenna and the smaller antenna on the end of the mast. NASA added the mast in order to get the best 3-D snapshots ever of Earth's terrain. If the mast bends too much or breaks, the astronauts can simply eject it and fly away. "But there is that element of risk that there may be something we didn't get, that we don't quite understand." "We've done all that we can think, as far as testing in a one-G environment and simulating the effects of our (shuttle) manoeuvres on the mast," Dittemore said. It was so long that workers used phones to talk from one end to the other. As a result, engineers had to rely on ground tests to determine how the mast would move in weightlessness. The steel, titanium and plastic mast, which has a radar antenna on the end, has never flown in space. Not safety risk, mission risk," Dittemore said. "There's certainly an element of mission risk. It will be the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space - if it makes it all the way out. The 197-foot antenna mast was to be extended from Endeavour's cargo bay late this afternoon, just five hours after lift-off. Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said he would not rest easy until Endeavour was in orbit and its long radar antenna was all the way out and thoroughly tested. They should have tackled the job last September, but were kept waiting because damaged wiring all over Endeavour had to be repaired. The astronauts were eager to get started on their 11-day mission. 31, the weather and a faulty computer kept Endeavour and its crew from lifting off on a quest to create the most accurate 3-D map of the world. Lift-off came 13 minutes late because of three minor technical problems that popped up at the last minute.ĭuring the first try, on Jan. It was NASA's second launch attempt in as many weeks. STS-126 was the 27th shuttle mission to the International Space Station."We're ready to map the world," shuttle commander Kevin Kregel responded. Magnus will return to Earth on shuttle mission STS-119.Įndeavour carried a reusable logistics module that held supplies and equipment, including additional crew quarters, additional exercise equipment, equipment for the regenerative life support system and spare hardware. Magnus will serve as a flight engineer and NASA science officer for Expedition 18. Chamitoff, who returned to Earth with the STS-126 crew. Magnus remained on the station, replacing Expedition 17/18 Flight Engineer Gregory E. Stefanyshyn-Piper and NASA astronauts Donald R. Ferguson commanded the STS-126 mission aboard Endeavour that delivered equipment to the International Space Station that will enable larger crews to reside aboard the complex.
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