|
| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
House panel skeptical about Mir's safety
NASA says trip not 'suicide mission'
September 18, 1997
Web posted at: 9:44 p.m. EDT (0144 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Members of the U.S. House Science Committee grilled NASA officials Thursday over whether Russia's trouble-plagued Mir space station is a safe place to send American astronauts.
At the hearing, the committee's chairman, Rep. Frank Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said he is convinced that NASA should scrap plans to send astronaut David Wolf to Mir next week aboard a space shuttle.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve talks to Dave Wolf, the next Astronaut to fly on Mir
5 min., 32 sec. VXtreme streaming video
But Frank Culbertson, NASA's manager for joint U.S.-Russian missions on Mir and a former astronaut himself, insisted that the lives of astronauts are not being jeopardized in the pursuit of international space cooperation with Russia.
"I take the lives of my friends very seriously and would never send anyone ... to do anything I have not done myself or would not do in the future," said Culbertson, who said he had given personal assurances to Wolf's mother about Mir's safety.
"When a fellow's mother looks you in the eye and asks if everything will be OK for her son, you know the answer had better be the honest truth," he said.
Views on Mir Rep. James Sensenbrenner -- House Science chairman:
"Will someone have to get killed..."136K/6 sec. AIFF or WAV
Shannon Lucid -- Former Mir astronaut:
"...I felt safe..."James Oberg -- Engineering consultant:
"...dodging bullets..."David Wolf -- Future Mir astronaut:
"I'm sure we can handle any reasonable emergency"As for Wolf, in an interview with CNN Thursday he expressed enthusiasm for his impeding mission despite recent setbacks on Mir.
"This is the greatest time in an astronaut's life right now. The hard training is over. We're getting ready to go fly," he said. "I feel very comfortable with the level of safety."
But given a recent series of technical glitches on Mir, some members of the committee are clearly not convinced by reassuring words from NASA. One member bluntly asked if astronauts were being sent on a "suicide mission," to which Culbertson replied "no."
Both NASA's inspector general and a space scholar at the Congressional Research Service voiced concerns during the hearing about the safety of Mir, given recent equipment failures, computer shutdowns, a collision and a fire.
James Oberg, an independent expert on space issues, told the committee that while conditions on Mir might improve in future, for now it was "rational" to refuse to put another astronaut aboard the Russian craft.
Sensenbrenner made it clear that NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and other top NASA officials will be held responsible if they sign off on sending Wolfe to Mir.
If something goes awry, Goldin will have "some explaining to do, and I will give him the opportunity," Sensenbrenner said.
Next week, Goldin and Vice President Al Gore will visit Russia and will stress astronaut safety in discussions with Russian space officials, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Thursday.
"I would say there was going to be careful and fairly meticulous exploration of some of those issues," McCurry said.
Correspondent Aileen Pincus, John Zarrella and Reuters contributed to this report.
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·
· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·
- CNN In-Depth: Space
- Transcript: Astronaut Shannon Lucid discusses Mir safety/a>
- Video Almanac: 1996 - Mir and Atlantis dock
- Video Almanac: 1986 - Soviets launch Mir
- Message Board: Repairing Mir
Related stories:
- Mir faces sun again, computer glitch fixed - September 16, 1997
- Mir crew builds computer unit from spare parts - September 15, 1997
- Report: Conditions on Mir much worse than thought - September 12, 1997
- Yelstin sets deadline for finding Mir culprits - September 11, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- NASA Office of Inspector General
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web- official NASA site for U.S. astronauts and their activities aboard the Russian Mir Space Station
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir - contains graphics and specifications of the diferent areas of MIR
- Russian Space Agency - homepage of the Russian Space Agency through the NASA site
- Russian Space Science Internet
- Russian Space Research Institute (IKI)
- MIR Space Station - news, research, history, images and links from Maximov Online
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
Watch these shows on CNN for more sci-tech stories:
CNN Computer Connection | Future Watch | Science & Technology Week
|
Sound off on our message boards You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.