NASAWatch: NASA withheld safety data from Augustine panel

Robert Block
The Write Stuff
Orlando Sentinel

NASAWatch.com, a respected watchdog website, reported on Tuesday night that NASA allegedly withheld information from a White House panel that showed the Ares I rocket did not meet the agency's own safety goals.

According to NASAWatch, the information was contained in a chart prepared by Valador, a company that employs Joe Fragola, a consultant who has authored several studies for NASA. The chart (above) clearly indicates that Ares I falls short of the safety standards that the Constellation Program set for itself.

But the document was apparently withheld from the White House-appointed Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee chaired by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine. Instead another chart without the Ares I safety data was presented by Fragola during a public committee hearing in Huntsville, Alabama, last summer.

The website posting has pictures of the charts as well as video and transcripts of the hearing.

Read the post HERE.