Jul 15 2003
From The Space Library
The Boeing Company announced that, because commercial launches were costly and in relatively low demand, it would not seek commercial satellite launch contracts for five years, focusing instead on providing service for the U.S. military and NASA. However, Boeing was a member of the consortium International Launch Services (ILS), which would continue to offer commercial launch services. ILS used Russian-made [[Zenit 3-SL]] rockets to launch commercial payloads from a floating platform known as Sea Launch. Boeing indicated that it would accommodate customers that preferred to use Delta rockets instead of the Russian-made rockets. The company stated that the change in business strategy would not affect any employees who worked on the launch programs.(Brian Monroe and Wayne T. Price, “Boeing To Bail Out of Commercial Launches,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 17 July 2003.
Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force Peter B. Teets testified before the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards that the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) System spacecraft would not be available until late 2009 or 2010, at the earliest. The U.S. Air Force and NOAA had jointly funded the system, the first of its kind, originally planning to deliver it in early 2008. The Bush administration had decided to request less money for the project in the near term than it had previously planned, and that decision had reportedly caused the delay. Because of the postponement of the delivery date, the Air Force and NOAA would need to restructure the contract to account for anticipated cost growth. The new system would replace the polar-orbiting systems that the agencies had previously operated separately. Greg Withee, NOAA's Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services, stated that the delay could result in a 21-month gap in coverage if NOAA encountered problems with its existing fleet. (Jeremy Singer, “Delay Means Cost Growth for New Weather Satellites,” Space News, 17 July 2003.
In response to the anticipated recommendations of the CAIB, NASA announced its plans to create an independent NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) at NASA's LaRC, providing a central location to coordinate engineering and safety assessment for all of NASA. The NESC, expected to draw on the talents of 250 staff throughout NASA to conduct analysis and share technical information, would report to Director of LaRC Roy D. Bridges Jr. Bryan D. O'Connor, Associate Administrator for the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters, would have responsibility for policy. NASA intended for the NESC to provide independent assessment and testing of engineering, in support of critical NASA projects and programs; to conduct reviews and evaluations of engineering and safety; to provide a central location for trend analysis; to provide a structure to support engineering collaboration for problem resolution; to provide central coordination of engineering and programmatic lessons learned, technical standardization, and development of technical discipline expertise; and to provide independent inspection and validation of activities to ensure the constant maintenance of NASA safety standards. (NASA, “NASA Announces Independent Engineering and Safety Center,” news release 03-23 9, 15 July 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03239_safety_center.html (accessed 23 December 2008); Warren E. Leary, “In Response to Panel, NASA Plans Safety Center,” New York Times, 16 July 2003.
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