Categories: Space Shuttle

Shuttle Program’s Flaws Will Be Revealed

Investigators working to determine the cause of the space shuttle Columbia disaster are expecting to reveal some serious problems with NASA’s program that oversees shuttle safety. The investigation team interviewed 72 NASA employees and contractors over a period of months and learned there were serious gaps in the agency when it came to safety. Some inspections had been removed to cut costs; quality assurance staff weren’t allowed to perform “spot checks”; and the agency was using hopelessly outdated testing equipment.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay.

Share
Published by
Fraser Cain

Recent Posts

There’s So Much Pressure at the Earth’s Core, it Makes Iron Behave in a Strange Way

It's one of nature's topsy-turvy tricks that the deep interior of the Earth is as…

1 hour ago

An Absolutely Bonkers Plan to Give Mars an Artificial Magnetosphere

To terraform Mars, we will need to give it a protective magnetic field. Here's how…

3 hours ago

SpinLaunch Hurls a Test Vehicle Kilometers Into the air. Eventually, it’ll Throw Them Almost all the way to Orbit

The commercial space company SpinLaunch just conducted its first successful launch test from their facility…

19 hours ago

Eggshell Planets Have a Thin Brittle Crust and No Mountains or Tectonics

Planets without plate tectonics are unlikely to be habitable. But currently, we've never seen the…

1 day ago

LightSail 2 has Been Flying for 30 Months now, Paving the way for Future Solar Sail Missions

Even after 30 months in space, The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission continues to successfully…

1 day ago

Orbital Launch in January? Elon Musk Updates His Vision for SpaceX’s Starship

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has laid out a scenario for space travel that calls for…

2 days ago