What howard Gehman has to say

[ascan1984]

This is an interview with the chairman of the coilumbia accident investigation board (CAIB) just recently published on floridatoday.com It makes for very interesting reading.<br /><br />Retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, 62, is happily back to enjoying his retirement with his wife, Janet, after spending most of 2003 investigating the shuttle Columbia disaster. Gehman chaired the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which issued its final report on the Feb. 1, 2003, tragedy in August 2003. He spoke with FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Leader John Kelly last week:<br /><br />QUESTION: The board has been quiet. Did you decide as a group not to second-guess NASA's progress?<br /><br />ANSWER: Yes. We made that decision prior to adjourning. We said at our press conference, 'We are not going to grade NASA's paper.' We were aware that we were, very quickly, going to become no longer informed as to what was going on. . . . However, if we felt we were being blown off, we would go public.<br /><br />Q: I guess you have been consulted by NASA and the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group. Have they sought your opinion on what NASA has done or asked for further interpretation about the intent of some of your recommendations?<br /><br />A: I have spoken to the Stafford-Covey group . . . to clarify our intent behind certain recommendations and make sure they understand the importance and significance of what we wrote. They've provided some written interim reports so I can read what they have said about particular recommendations. But I've not kept myself informed on a detail-by-detail basis.<br /><br />Q: The recommendation most talked about seems to be heat-shield repair and NASA's inability to repair large-scale damage similar to what brought Columbia down? Is that the recommendation you've gotten the most questions about?<br /><br />A: We asked them to go produce some capability, the best that they could do, and also to keep working at it.<br /><br />Actually, the issue . . . they ask the most