ASAP Releases 2008 Annual Report

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) released its 2008 annual report. Among its recommendations, the ASAP “strongly endorses the NASA position on not extending Shuttle operations” beyond what is currently planned. The panel also “is not convinced that the Ares I and Orion initial operating capability (IOC) date can be improved appreciably by additional resources.” Nor can the private sector be expected to field capabilities to improve the expected 5-year gap between when the shuttle is scheduled to be terminated and the new Ares/Orion system will be available, according to the panel.