Inconsistencies in Alerting the Public to NASA’s Safety Process
Editor’s note: On 11 April 2003 NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel held a meeting to discuss issues related to safety issues associated with the two person crew scheduled for launch on 26 April 2003 (findings). If it were not for the fact that this meeting notice was posted on NASA’s main website (one of the more accurate places to find information these days!), no one would have been able to plan to attend this meeting. You see, NASA’s lawyer on these matters only filed the official notice in the Federal Register on 10 April 2003. The notice actually appeared in the 11 April 2003 issue – the same day as the meeting was to be held.
Update: Statement by Robert Mirelson, NASA Public Affairs: “Late last month, the Administrator asked ASAP to do a review of the safety of maintaining the ISS with just two crew. ASAP Agreed. This activity was of a time critical nature and would require an unscheduled ASAP public meting. No meeting could be scheduled until it was clear when the ASAP members could complete fact-finding work. ASAP received data from NASA the first week of April and held a fact finding meeting at JSC on April 9, 2003. NASA requested that the ASAP provide its guidance at the earliest possible time to allow the Agency to respond to any safety issues before the crew rotation scheduled for late April. The ASAP members believed that they could support an April 11, 2003 meeting. When it became evident that the Agency could not meet the 15 day pre-notice required by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), NASA conferred with the General Services Administration who advised that the FACA regulations contain an exception to the 15 day notice for “exceptional circumstances.” GSA agreed with NASA that the issue of the pending crew reduction constituted “exceptional circumstances.” To help address the shortened notice period, NASA highlighted the extraordinary ASAP meeting on the ASAP webpage and on the NASA home page.”
Editor’s note: Mirelson’s comments explain the short notice wherein everyone was notified of the impending meeting – but does not explain why it took the responsible NASA official several days to get around to submitting formal notice of the meeting to the Federal Register as required by law. Notice of this meeting was posted on the NASA home page on 8 April 2003 and on the ASAP webpage on 7 April 2003. NASA Watch and SpaceRef posted the text on 8 April 2003. It was not for another 2 days before NASA Advisory Council’s lawyer, June Edwards, submitted it for posting to the Federal Register – and another 24 hours after that before it appeared online and in print.
Curiously, it would seem that NASA’s Public Affairs Office is more interested in alerting the public to meetings regarding safety than is the NASA Advisory Council.
