No Green Light For Shuttle Flight

A group of experts overseeing NASA's efforts to resume shuttle flights said Tuesday it is much too soon to know when the space agency will be ready to launch again.

The return-to-flight task force said NASA is making "solid progress" on some fronts, but added that many details about the agency's preparations remain unknown just 1½ weeks shy of the first anniversary of the Columbia disaster that grounded the shuttle fleet.

"While the tone of this interim report is justifiably positive, progress should not be mistaken for accomplishment," the group said. "As time passes and the interval before the next scheduled flight diminishes, the enormity of the remaining task looms."

The 27-member task force, led by former shuttle commander Richard Covey, noted that NASA has not been timely in responding to requests for information.

NASA is aiming for a launch of Atlantis this fall on a mission to the international space station to deliver belated cargo and test methods for repairing holes in the shuttles' thermal shielding. But managers acknowledge the schedule may be overly optimistic and that the flight could well be delayed, possibly into early next year.

Engineers are still struggling to come up with a patch for breaches to the wing leading edges — the location of the plate-sized hole that doomed Columbia Feb. 1 — and computer software for an extension boom for inspecting the underside of an orbiting shuttle.

In its 78-page report, Covey's group said NASA is making progress on several of the recommendations put forth by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board last summer, including improvements to launch photography. But it still is waiting to hear whether the new cameras will be tested during an unmanned rocket launch before being used on the next shuttle flight.

NASA also should test its ability to request spy satellite photographs of an orbiting shuttle and to analyze and store data from classified sources before the next shuttle flight, the group said. NASA managers did not seek zoom-in photographs from the Defense Department during Columbia's final flight, despite the concern of many low-level engineers.