NASA Accepts CAIB Report

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe officially accepted the report from the Columbia Accident Investigation Report, and vowed that serious changes would be made to the agency to reduce the risks of future shuttle flights. In fact, he said, many of the preliminary recommendations were already underway and would be ready when the shuttle returns to flight some time in Spring 2004. The board made 15 recommendations that must be fulfilled before the shuttle can return to flight, but their biggest complaint, that NASA’s fundamental culture caused allowed this disaster to take place may be the hardest to fix.