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Despite negative report, shuttle to launch soon

WASHINGTON - U.S. astronauts will blast back into space in a matter of weeks, the head of NASA said Tuesday, despite a new report questioning the safety of this exploration.

The optimistic assessment from NASA administrator Michael Griffin came after a task force review said Monday that the agency failed to meet key safety recommendations that came about as a result of the Columbia tragedy.

Top shuttle managers are conducting a flight readiness review this week in hopes of launching the shuttle Discovery as early as July 13, the first mission since Columbia broke apart during re-entry on Feb 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

A task force formed after the accident held its final meeting Monday night and concluded that the space agency still does not fully comply with three of the toughest recommendations that accident investigators made in 2003.

The task force determined that NASA has put off long-term improvements to the shuttle's thermal shielding, thus failing to improve its ability to make emergency repairs in space. But the group also acknowledged that delaying a summer launch a few months would not significantly reduce the risks of such space flight.

Columbia crashed after a suitcase-sized chunk of insulating foam tore off its external fuel tank during liftoff and pierced the left wing, damage that proved fatal when the spaceship returned to Earth's atmosphere.

The shuttle program's planned return to space in May was scrubbed over concerns about possible ice buildup on a fuel tank.

Griffin, the agency's 11th administrator, was greeted warmly by lawmakers who warned him that NASA faces tough decisions ahead on how to balance its long-term plans of retiring the space shuttles, conducting further work on the international space station, creating a new manned space mission vehicle and beginning the work on a mission to Mars.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:20:05]