A safety panel determined on Monday that NASA has not taken three steps which are vital to ensure the space shuttle can return safely to orbit despite claims by the space agency that it would do so. Despite these criticisms, the panel still said that the shuttle was safe enough to lift off as scheduled next month.
The three items the panel said NASA had failed to address were:
1) Finding reliable ways to make repairs of the shuttle while it is in orbit.
2) Keeping large pieces of debris from falling off the fuel tank during liftoff.
3) Making the shuttle's skin tougher so it can withstand contact with debris.
'They may not have fully met the intent' of some recommendations, said panelist and former astronaut James Adamson. Adamson the said, 'we're also saying that they have made significant progress toward reducing the likelihood that any of these bad events will happen.'
Panelist Joseph Cuzzupoli added, 'The data that they presented to us so far says it's safe to fly.'
No shuttle missions have been attempted since the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. The Columbia broke up upon re-entry to the earth's atmosphere due to a hole on the thermal shield of it's left wing. All seven astronauts aboard the ship were killed.
The launch of the shuttle Discovery is scheduled between July 13 and July 31.
