Mike Griffin talks about Space Shuttle Mission

The newly appointed head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mike Griffin spoke to the media about the upcoming Space Shuttle launch. The message was that NASA would have the final word on the launch of the shuttle in spite of the fact that an independent advisory panel set up to monitor the return to flight has not signed off every safety improvement.

Mike said that their managers and engineers would have the final say, which would overrule any other opinion on the safety of the mission. The Stafford-Covey panel will assess NASA’s fulfillment of the 15 recommendations made by Columbia investigators for the safe return to shuttle flight. As per the latest reports, as many as eight recommendations are yet to be fulfilled by the space agency.

Mike also promised that he and his team would not leave any efforts into making the Space Shuttle mission as safe as possible. The entire shuttle feet was grounded on the basis of security issues after the Columbia shuttle disaster which disintegrated in the space itself while returning to the earth from its mission in space.

In his words: “I cannot begin at this time to say under what specific conditions NASA might elect to go ahead with the launch, given a disparity of opinion between various interested parties as to whether we should or should not. Advisory groups advise. The NASA line managers have responsibility for executing the programme. We need to take our advice seriously and… We need never to be defensive when receiving advice from outside.”

The launch is scheduled for anytime between May 15 and June 3.