NASA Names Mishap Board For Taurus Xl Launch Failure Investigation
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the members of the board that will investigate the unsuccessful March 4 launch of the Glory spacecraft. Bradley C. Flick, director of the Research and Engineering Directorate at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., will lead the mishap investigation board.Flick is responsible for the technical and administrative management of the directorate's engineering workforce at Dryden. He also has served as Dryden's chief engineer and was responsible for providing independent technical guidance and oversight to flight projects.
The board has six other voting members:
-- LeRoy E. Cain, deputy manager, Space Shuttle Program, NASA's
Johnson Space Center, Houston
-- Daniel Dorney, supervisory aerospace engineer, NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
-- Todd Hinkel, lead, Johnson Space Center Pyrotechnics Group
-- Stacey Nakamura, chair, Johnson Space Center Safety and Engineering
Review Panel
-- Air Force Capt. Benjamin Califf, deputy chief, Space Launch
Section, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, N.M.
-- Barbara Kanki, research psychologist, NASA's Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, Calif.
The ex-officio member is Christopher Nagy, safety and mission
assurance manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
ex-officio member assures board activity conforms to NASA procedural
requirements.
The board began its investigation Wednesday. Members will gather
information, analyze the facts, identify the failure's cause or
causes and identify contributing factors. The board will make
recommendations to the NASA administrator to prevent similar incidents.
The Glory spacecraft failed to reach orbit after liftoff aboard a
Taurus XL rocket on March 4 at 5:09 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air
Force Base in southern California.
For more information about the Glory Taurus XL launch and
investigation, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/glory
Source: NASA
