For Immediate Release<br />CAIB PA 40-03<br /><br />Date: August 26, 2003<br /><br /><br />Contact: Laura Brown, 703-416-3532 or 281-467-8657<br /><br /><br />Columbia Accident Investigation Board Releases Final Report<br /><br />WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Columbia Accident Investigation Board today presented<br />its final report on the causes of the Feb. 1, 2003 Space Shuttle accident to<br />the White House, Congress and the National Aeronautics and Space<br />Administration.<br /><br />The CAIB report concludes that while NASA's present Space Shuttle is not<br />inherently unsafe, a number of mechanical fixes are required to make the<br />Shuttle safer in the short term. The report also concludes that NASA's<br />management system is unsafe to manage the shuttle system beyond the short<br />term and that the agency does not have a strong safety culture.<br /><br />The Board determined that physical and organizational causes played an equal<br />role in the Columbia accident - that the NASA organizational culture had as<br />much to do with the accident as the foam that struck the Orbiter on ascent.<br />The report also notes other significant factors and observations that may<br />help prevent the next accident.<br /><br />The Board crafted the report to serve as a framework for a national debate<br />about the future of human space flight, but suggests that it is in the<br />nation's interest to replace the Shuttle as soon as possible as the primary<br />means for transporting humans to and from Earth orbit.<br /><br />The Board makes 29 recommendations in the 248-page final report, including<br />15 return-to-flight recommendations that should be implemented before the<br />Shuttle Program returns to flight.<br /><br />The report, which consists of 11 chapters grouped into three main sections,<br />was the result of a seven-month-long investigation by the CAIB's 13 board<br />members, more than 120 investigators, 400 NASA and contractor employees, and<br />more than 25,000 searchers who recovered Columbia's debris.<br /><br />Over the next several weeks, the Board expects to publish several additional<br />volumes containing technical documents cited in the report or referenced as<br />part of the investigation, as well as transcripts of the board's public<br />hearings.<br /><br />The report can be viewed on our website at: www.caib.us<br /><br />Hard copies of the report or CDs can be obtained through NASA's Office of<br />Public Affairs at 202-358-1898.