Return-to-Flight Activity Includes Tackling Mountains of Paperwork

摘要

While NASA prepares to roll the Space Shuttle Discovery out to its launch pad, a team of engineers are working through a mountain of safety waivers to ensure the or-biter is safe for flight. For every aspect of a shuttle or shuttle flight that falls outside the precise flight-safety rules that date back to the 1970s, a waiver must be granted for a mission to go for- ward. In theory, the safety issues that necessitate the waiver get addressed for subsequent missions, but in reality they have stacked up over the years.