What is Best for NASA?

Media sources have reported that Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore will be announcing his resignation after a career spanning over two decades at NASA. Although Dittemore has not confirmed his resignation, sources at NASA say he has planned a move to private industry and will likely make the announcement later this week.

For several days after the February 1accident Dittemore took the key role in press conferences, promising an open investigation. This was welcome in light of how closed mouth NASA was after the Challenger accident. Dittemore resumed his regular management duties once the Columbia Accident Investigation Board was formed.

Dittemore, 51, is an aeronautical engineer who has worked at Johnson Space Center for 26 years, as propulsion engineer and flight director of numerous shuttle missions. He became shuttle program manager in 1999.

It has been debated whether some of those in key positions at NASA should be replaced after the Columbia accident. Some experts argue that NASA has repeated earlier mistakes, and that they have failed to follow the stringent safety measures put in place after the Challenger disaster. Has NASA adopted a false sense of security with human spaceflight?

Other experts disagree and say that budget cuts, rather than a false sense of security has led to the current troubles. Richard Blomberg, the former head of NASA's independent safety advisory panel, said years of neglect had resulted in a shuttle program that was operating safely only in the short term.

Bloomberg testified before the CAIB and said he had never met people more dedicated to safety than the people at NASA. But too small a budget would eventually take its toll. "When you're so goal-oriented and you're so budget-limited you tend to put blinders on and you tend to look at the next flight," said Blomberg. "The old not-seeing-the-forest-for-the trees comes into play."

Bloomberg described NASA workers as people under enormous pressure. "Stress on one side (not to be) the weak link in the international effort to put a space station up, and on the other side the very real knowledge that if they could not perform within budget, there was a risk to the entire program and therefore to their lives, to what they had dedicated themselves to. Whether they inadvertently missed something because of their zeal, their innovation, their capabilities remains to be seen,"

Losing Ron Dittemore would lose a lot of experience, 26 years of it. Many argue that he is the best person to lead the shuttle program through this difficult time and to move forward with the shuttle program. Losing experienced people is not likely the solution. What may prove a far better recipe for success is a realistic budget and a better, less stressful atmosphere for NASA people to function in.

Kathy Miles and Chuck Peters, cofounders of the Starryskies Network have written open letters to Sean O'Keefe, NASA administrator, and Ron Dittemore and posted them on our website. We are asking Mr. Dittemore to rethink resigning and for Mr. O'Keefe to refuse a resignation if it is submitted. We will forward comments to NASA  and encourage readers to offer their comments.

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