A SPECIALIST PANEL appointed by NASA has recommended that the majority of Space Shuttle operations should be privatised.
The panel recommends that one of the current programme contractors be appointed as prime contractor and the Shuttle's launch procedures, maintenance and management simplified.
NASA operates the Shuttle in a quasi-development mode, with a complex management system, which increases costs, says the panel, led by Chris Kraft, a former director of NASA's Houston Space Center, and Apollo astronaut and former Eastern Airlines chief, Frank Borman.
The Shuttle is described as "mature and reliable" and (for a rocket system) about as safe as today's technology can make it. Privately operating the Shuttle would be cheaper and more efficient, the panel says.
Shuttle programme costs have been reduced by over 25% in three years and NASA safety experts have been concerned that the budget has already been cut to the bone, losing $600 million in two years (Flight International, 7-13 December, 1994).
The panel also recommends that the design of the Shuttle be frozen and future modifications be implemented only to improve safety, reduce costs, increase re-usability, or for the testing of new technologies.
Source: Flight International
