Cutbacks put space shuttle safety at risk, government report says

File image of the space shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad

By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- The loss of seasoned NASA engineers and technicians could threaten the safety of the space shuttle as the aging workhorse begins it busiest flight schedule ever, according to a new government report.

NASA plans to double the annual number of launches to assemble the International Space Station (ISS), beginning September 8 with the launch of the Atlantis.

Besides the increased flight schedule, the staff has been called upon to begin the most ambitious series of upgrades on the entire shuttle fleet. Yet the shuttle workforce has dropped 33 percent since 1995.

"Workforce reductions are jeopardizing NASA's ability to safely support the shuttle's planned flight rate," says the report from the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO), a congressional investigative body.

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Reduced to 1,800 employees, the shuttle program has many unfilled positions and current employees "(show) signs of overwork and fatigue," the report says, citing numerous internal NASA studies.

Four shuttles went into space in fiscal years 1998 and 1999. NASA has scheduled nine missions for fiscal year 2001, a pace the agency plans to sustain for some years to service the unfinished ISS, which is expected to host its first residents later this year.

The peak space station assembly period coincides with a comprehensive upgrade for the shuttle fleet. NASA is also working on designs for a new reusable launch vehicle to replace the aging space shuttle, which first took to the skies in 1981.

But development of the next-generation technology has proved costly and slow. NASA, now expecting the shuttle to last until 2012, has set aside $2.2 billion for shuttle upgrades over the next five years, primarily to improve safety.

The GAO report notes that NASA has taken steps to address the personnel issue. Since December the agency has hired 95 people and requested funding for 278 more.

"We have instituted a plan to hire more quality control people. We agree with the GAO report and they agree with our strategy. So it's a win-win situation," said NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown.

But a 2001 NASA plan "does not adequately describe how the agency (will) achieve its performance goals," the GAO report said.

The shuttle safety upgrades alone could require more than 200 engineers, according to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The GAO report notes that shuttle program faces serious staffing challenges in the long-term as well:

"Throughout the Office of Space Flight, which include the shuttle program, there are more than twice as many workers over 60 years of age than under 30 years old," the report says.

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NASA
Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis (OV-104)
The United States General Accounting Office
Johnson Space Center
Human Space Flight (HSF) - International Space Station

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