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Interview with Sean O'Keefe
Aired May 07, 2003 - 15:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The independent board looking into the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia is out with what it calls a working scenario as to what caused the loss of that spacecraft. Meanwhile, over the weekend in case you weren't paying too much attention, a Soyuz spacecraft for the first time brought two NASA astronauts back from the international space station to the Kazak Step (ph). But it took two hours to find the capsule after it landed about 200 miles short.
Sean O'Keefe is the head of NASA. He joins us now live from Washington. This isn't exactly what you signed up for, all these harrowing moments is it.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Not at all, Miles.
How are you doing this afternoon.
O'BRIEN: I am well. Take us back to -- you were watching this from Moscow or were you in Kazakhstan?
O'KEEFE: No, indeed, I was in Moscow and later met the crew when they returned to Star City, which is their training center for the cosmonaut program. We were fortunate enough to welcome Ken Bowersox, Don Pettit, Nikolai Budarin, back home. A little later than we thought they would but they did arrive safe and sound.
O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind during that 2 1/2-hour period when you were all waiting?
O'KEEFE: It was hauntingly reminiscent of the events of February 1 but only stretches over the better part of 2 1/2 hours. Because there was just no communication at all. We lost communication about 6 to 8 minutes before the Soyuz capsule re-entered and was ready to land. And then as it landed we subsequently find out the capsule was on its side and on the side that the antenna was on. So it took, Bowersox, Pettit, Budarin a better part of a couple of hours to get the manual antenna erected so they could make contact with fixed wing aircraft flying overhead.
O'BRIEN: And they had quite a rough ride nine, maybe 10 gs one the way down. A little more than ideal put it that way.
O'KEEFE: I think that's probably the right way to put it. It was certainly not outside of the parameters of what the Soyuz can handle or what the astronauts are training for. But it was, nonetheless, a couple of times greater than what you prefer to have on the way in. But they were in great shape on the way down. You know, worked through the experience and were trained for it. Knew that was something they might have to encounter and thankfully they're a very, very professional group of folks.
O'BRIEN: Now that was a newly modified Soyuz capsule. An identical is now the life boat for the international space station. Ultimately, the ride home for the two-person crew up there.
Can it be safely flown before learning what happened on this re- entry over the weekend?
O'KEEFE: We think so. While this was not desirable there be that short of the landing zone, nonetheless, it's within the parameters of what was reasonably expected of what could occur, because there are several re-entry modes. And this was one of in three programmed for Soyuz to do. Just not the one everybody expected to see. So it's not a circumstance we were concerned about the condition of the president Soyuz attached to the station. We'll see what the investigation comes up with and the fixes that are going to be suggested in order to make sure it hits the landing zone next time around without this kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) around what the landing mode will be.
O'BRIEN: Speaking of fixes, Hal Gehman and his independent board out with, what they call a working scenario, not the final report, but they are honing in on a conclusion here. If something drastic doesn't come out in the final months prior to that final report being issues, how soon could NASA go back to flying?
I assume you have some plans in the works. How long will it take to safely fly shuttles again?
O'KEEFE: Well, we're really thinking in terms of one of the significant aspects, both the hardware and the process changes that we may need to make as a consequence of the findings and investigations of the Columbia accident investigation board. And based on that preliminary look it could be as early as this calendar year, but maybe a little longer than that. Rather than have the calendar dictate the pace of what we're going to do, we're really dedicated to being sure we return to flight safely and assure ourselves that the three orbiters we have in the program can operate safely, can bring the cargo and the pieces of the international space station to stations safely and return thereafter. So that's the events we're looking for. We're looking for that potentially as early as this year.
O'BRIEN: What's the single biggest lesson you think NASA has learns from this report, preliminary, but nevertheless from what has come out thus far from the Gehman board.
O'KEEFE: Stay diligent. Always focus on every detail and everything we keep seeing here from all the findings coming up is that that diligence is imperative on each and every flight. This is a very risky business. As we saw this past weekend, even the things that are within parameter can give us a lot of anxiety. But it's the nature of exploration. Human exploration throughout the course of our human history has always been dominated by an element of risk in dealing with the unknown and constantly trying to press the envelope. These are the kinds of challenges. So staying diligent is probably the most important lesson we continue to relearn each and every time we encounter issues like this.
O'BRIEN: It is almost human nature, though, to let your guard down, isn't it?
O'KEEFE: Well, there's not any evidence so far that I can see that that occurred. It was more a case of maybe seeing things too frequently that appear to be accepted or acceptable, within acceptable parameters of what could be problems or issues or whatever else. So, it's more of that question. It's not a question of letting your guard down as much as it is trying to define what you think are requirements and standards and trying to maintain those. Not at the expense of the venture itself, but in order to assure yourself that you've got enough quality assurance and risk management built into it to do a safe operation across the board.
O'BRIEN: Sean O'Keefe, NASA administrator. Thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
O'KEEFE: Thank you Miles, nice seeing you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 7, 2003 - 15:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The independent board looking into the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia is out with what it calls a working scenario as to what caused the loss of that spacecraft. Meanwhile, over the weekend in case you weren't paying too much attention, a Soyuz spacecraft for the first time brought two NASA astronauts back from the international space station to the Kazak Step (ph). But it took two hours to find the capsule after it landed about 200 miles short.
Sean O'Keefe is the head of NASA. He joins us now live from Washington. This isn't exactly what you signed up for, all these harrowing moments is it.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Not at all, Miles.
How are you doing this afternoon.
O'BRIEN: I am well. Take us back to -- you were watching this from Moscow or were you in Kazakhstan?
O'KEEFE: No, indeed, I was in Moscow and later met the crew when they returned to Star City, which is their training center for the cosmonaut program. We were fortunate enough to welcome Ken Bowersox, Don Pettit, Nikolai Budarin, back home. A little later than we thought they would but they did arrive safe and sound.
O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind during that 2 1/2-hour period when you were all waiting?
O'KEEFE: It was hauntingly reminiscent of the events of February 1 but only stretches over the better part of 2 1/2 hours. Because there was just no communication at all. We lost communication about 6 to 8 minutes before the Soyuz capsule re-entered and was ready to land. And then as it landed we subsequently find out the capsule was on its side and on the side that the antenna was on. So it took, Bowersox, Pettit, Budarin a better part of a couple of hours to get the manual antenna erected so they could make contact with fixed wing aircraft flying overhead.
O'BRIEN: And they had quite a rough ride nine, maybe 10 gs one the way down. A little more than ideal put it that way.
O'KEEFE: I think that's probably the right way to put it. It was certainly not outside of the parameters of what the Soyuz can handle or what the astronauts are training for. But it was, nonetheless, a couple of times greater than what you prefer to have on the way in. But they were in great shape on the way down. You know, worked through the experience and were trained for it. Knew that was something they might have to encounter and thankfully they're a very, very professional group of folks.
O'BRIEN: Now that was a newly modified Soyuz capsule. An identical is now the life boat for the international space station. Ultimately, the ride home for the two-person crew up there.
Can it be safely flown before learning what happened on this re- entry over the weekend?
O'KEEFE: We think so. While this was not desirable there be that short of the landing zone, nonetheless, it's within the parameters of what was reasonably expected of what could occur, because there are several re-entry modes. And this was one of in three programmed for Soyuz to do. Just not the one everybody expected to see. So it's not a circumstance we were concerned about the condition of the president Soyuz attached to the station. We'll see what the investigation comes up with and the fixes that are going to be suggested in order to make sure it hits the landing zone next time around without this kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) around what the landing mode will be.
O'BRIEN: Speaking of fixes, Hal Gehman and his independent board out with, what they call a working scenario, not the final report, but they are honing in on a conclusion here. If something drastic doesn't come out in the final months prior to that final report being issues, how soon could NASA go back to flying?
I assume you have some plans in the works. How long will it take to safely fly shuttles again?
O'KEEFE: Well, we're really thinking in terms of one of the significant aspects, both the hardware and the process changes that we may need to make as a consequence of the findings and investigations of the Columbia accident investigation board. And based on that preliminary look it could be as early as this calendar year, but maybe a little longer than that. Rather than have the calendar dictate the pace of what we're going to do, we're really dedicated to being sure we return to flight safely and assure ourselves that the three orbiters we have in the program can operate safely, can bring the cargo and the pieces of the international space station to stations safely and return thereafter. So that's the events we're looking for. We're looking for that potentially as early as this year.
O'BRIEN: What's the single biggest lesson you think NASA has learns from this report, preliminary, but nevertheless from what has come out thus far from the Gehman board.
O'KEEFE: Stay diligent. Always focus on every detail and everything we keep seeing here from all the findings coming up is that that diligence is imperative on each and every flight. This is a very risky business. As we saw this past weekend, even the things that are within parameter can give us a lot of anxiety. But it's the nature of exploration. Human exploration throughout the course of our human history has always been dominated by an element of risk in dealing with the unknown and constantly trying to press the envelope. These are the kinds of challenges. So staying diligent is probably the most important lesson we continue to relearn each and every time we encounter issues like this.
O'BRIEN: It is almost human nature, though, to let your guard down, isn't it?
O'KEEFE: Well, there's not any evidence so far that I can see that that occurred. It was more a case of maybe seeing things too frequently that appear to be accepted or acceptable, within acceptable parameters of what could be problems or issues or whatever else. So, it's more of that question. It's not a question of letting your guard down as much as it is trying to define what you think are requirements and standards and trying to maintain those. Not at the expense of the venture itself, but in order to assure yourself that you've got enough quality assurance and risk management built into it to do a safe operation across the board.
O'BRIEN: Sean O'Keefe, NASA administrator. Thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
O'KEEFE: Thank you Miles, nice seeing you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
