Standards are shifted for flight of shuttle

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/21/news/nasa.html

With a month to go before the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia
disaster, NASA officials are shifting the standards for what constitutes an
acceptable risk of damage to the shuttle, internal documents show.
..
The move has set off a debate within the agency about whether the shifts
are a reasonable reassessment of the hazards of flight or whether they
jettison long-established rules to justify getting back to space quickly.
..
Two documents by engineers and managers for the space agency show at least
three approaches to adjusting the statistical methods it uses to look at
the risks of debris like ice and insulating foam striking the shuttle
during launching. Lesser standards must be used to support accepting the
risks of flight, one presentation states, "because we cannot meet
traditional certification."....



Herm
Astropics http://home.att.net/~hermperez

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:39:05 -0400, in a place far, far away, Herm
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/21/news/nasa.html

With a month to go before the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia
disaster, NASA officials are shifting the standards for what constitutes an
acceptable risk of damage to the shuttle, internal documents show.

Of course they are, and good for them. Many of the CAIB
recommendations were absurd, particularly in light of the new policy
to retire the system in 2010.