Fwd: Antares Investigation Board Includes Former NASA Shuttle Program Manager

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 5, 2014 7:53:41 AM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Antares Investigation Board Includes Former NASA Shuttle Program Manager

 

 

Antares Investigation Board Includes Former NASA Shuttle Program Manager

By Dan Leone | Nov. 4, 2014

 

Wayne Hale. Credit: NASA photo

WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia, identified members of the eight-person accident investigation board charged with figuring out what destroyed the company's Antares rocket and Cygnus space tug 15 seconds after liftoff Oct. 28 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.

Among the investigators is former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale, who oversaw the shuttle's return to flight in 2005 after the loss of the Columbia orbiter and all seven crew members in 2003.

Orbital's Nov. 3 press release about the accident investigation board is copied below.

Orbital Antares Update – November 3, 2014

Over the weekend, Orbital confirmed the participation of the following individuals who will serve on the Antares launch failure Accident Investigation Board (AIB), which is being led by Orbital under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The composition of the AIB is as follows:

Chairman

• David Steffy, Chief Engineer of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group

Members

• David Swanson, Senior Director of Safety and Mission Assurance for Orbital's Technical Operations organization
• Wayne Hale, Independent Consultant and Former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager
• David Cooper, Member of Orbital's Independent Readiness Review Team for the company's Launch Systems Group
• Eric Wood, Director of Propulsion Engineering for Orbital's Launch Systems Group
• Tom Costello, Launch Vehicle Assessment Manager in the International Space Station Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center
• Matt Lacey, Senior Vehicle Systems Engineer for NASA's Launch Services Program

FAA Oversight Team

• Michael S. Kelly, Chief Engineer, FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation
• Marcus Ward, Mishap Response Coordinator, FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Antares Data Review:

The AIB is initially focused on developing a "fault tree" and a timeline of the important events during the launch sequence. Due to the large amount of data available, the AIB is able to work with a rich source of information about the launch. One of the initial tasks for the AIB is to reconcile the data from multiple sources, a process that is now underway, to help create the launch sequence timeline.

Launch Site Status:

Over the weekend, Orbital's Wallops-based Antares personnel continued to identify, catalogue, secure and geolocate debris found at the launch site in order to preserve physical evidence and provide a record of the launch site following the mishap that will be useful for the AIB's analysis and determination of what caused the Antares launch failure. The debris is being taken to a NASA facility on Wallops Island for secure and weather resistant storage.     

 

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Orbital Sciences Forms Investigation Team for Antares Rocket Explosion

by Miriam Kramer, Space.com Staff Writer   |   November 04, 2014 10:35am ET

 

This image shows the aftermath of the Antares rocket explosion, which took place on Oct. 28, 2014. The photo was taken from the air on Oct. 29. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach View full size image

Orbital Sciences Corp. has assembled an investigation team to examine exactly what went wrong when the private spaceflight company's Antares rocket exploded shortly after liftoff on Oct. 28.

Officials with NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and Orbital Sciences have been working toward understanding what caused the massive failure of the rocket, but they have not found the root cause of the accident yet. The rocket mishap took place on a launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Antares was carrying an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft loaded down with supplies for the International Space Station at the time of the explosion. Orbital Sciences holds a contract with NASA to fly these robotic resupply missions to the orbiting outpost.

The Accident Investigation Board (IAB) will first work on putting together the proper timeline of events during the launch, according to Orbital. "Due to the large amount of data available, the AIB is able to work with a rich source of information about the launch," Orbital officials said in an update Wednesday (Nov. 3). "One of the initial tasks for the AIB is to reconcile the data from multiple sources, a process that is now underway, to help create the launch sequence timeline." [Read more news about the Antares explosion]

David Steffy, the Chief Engineer of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group, has been chosen as the chairman of the Accident Investigation Board. Other members of the board are:

• David Swanson, Senior Director of Safety and Mission Assurance for Orbital's Technical Operations organization
• Wayne Hale, Director of Human Spaceflight, Special Aerospace Services
• David Cooper, member of Orbital's Independent Readiness Review Team for the company's Launch Systems Group
• Eric Wood, Director of Propulsion Engineering for Orbital's Launch Systems Group
• Tom Costello, Launch Vehicle Assessment Manager in the International Space Station Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center
• Matt Lacey, Senior Vehicle Systems Engineer for NASA's Launch Services Program

The Federal Aviation Administration's oversight team for the investigation includes Michael Kelly, Chief Engineer for the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation and Marcus Ward, Mishap Response Coordinator for the same office.

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