Nasa to have final say on shuttle

A safe return to flight is Griffin's top priority

The space shuttle could launch even if an independent advisory panel set up to monitor the return to flight has not signed off every safety improvement.

Mike Griffin, the new US space agency (Nasa) administrator, said his managers and engineers would have the final say.

The Stafford-Covey panel will assess Nasa's fulfilment of 15 recommendations made by Columbia investigators for the safe return to shuttle flight.

Final approval on eight recommendations is currently pending.

At the end of the day, the people wearing government and contractor badges charged with launching the vehicle will be the ones who are responsible Mike Griffin, Nasa administrator

In his first news conference, Dr Griffin promised to leave "absolutely no stone unturned" in deciding whether it was safe to launch Discovery next month - the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster in 2003.

Bottom line

But when asked if he would allow Discovery to fly despite some reservations by the independent Stafford-Covey panel, Griffin replied: "In concept, yes I would.

"I cannot begin at this time to say under what specific conditions Nasa might elect to go ahead with the launch, given a disparity of opinion between various interested parties as to whether we should or should not," the space agency chief said.

Discovery is expecting to launch in a window that opens on 15 May

The answer would depend on technical details, and Nasa managers would have the final say, he stressed.

"Advisory groups advise. The Nasa line managers have responsibility for executing the programme. We need to take our advice seriously and... we need never to be defensive when receiving advice from outside," he told journalists.

"But at the end of the day, the people wearing government and contractor badges charged with launching the vehicle will be the ones who are responsible and accountable for their actions."

Discovery is scheduled to blast off on 15 May at the earliest. Some have questioned whether that date can be met given that a critical engineering review and a mass of paperwork still need to be completed.

The review is scheduled for Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Dr Griffin will attend with other Nasa managers.