Posted: Sun, Apr 15 11:21 AM ET (1521 GMT)
NASA gave $26.6 million to the families of the astronauts killed on the STS-107 shuttle mission in 2003, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday. The settlement, made in 2004 but not revealed by the space agency until it released documents associated with the deal under a Freedom of Information Act request, was reached between NASA and the families through a mediation process led by former FBI director William Webster. The settlement was made to avoid lawsuits, and the settlement was not announced by NASA to protect the families' privacy, according to a NASA spokesperson. Few other details about the settlement were included in the documents obtained by the newspaper.

Related Links:

•  Orlando Sentinel article
•  AP article

Posted: Thu, Aug 18 7:48 AM ET (1148 GMT)
Several members of a task force charged with evaluating NASA's effort to return the space shuttle flight believe the agency has yet to solve cultural problems that were at the root of the Columbia accident two and a half years ago. In an appendix to the final report of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Force, seven of the group's 26 members concluded that organizational and cultural issues that had been previously identified as contributing to the Columbia accident still existed within NASA. The minority group, whose members included former astronaut Susan Helms and former CBO director Dan Crippen, said the shuttle program still suffered from a lack of ""focused, consistent leadership and management". The members cited a lack of program management skills and "rigor in execution" as signs of a problem. The minority report, which task group co-chairs Thomas Stafford and Richard Covey declined to comment on, was included at the behest of NASA administrator Michael Griffin.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  CBS News/Spaceflight Now article
•  Houston Chronicle article
•  Orlando Sentinel article
•  New York Times article

Panel finds NASA falls short on shuttle fixes
Posted: Tue, Jun 28 7:09 AM ET (1109 GMT)
An independent panel reviewing NASA's compliance with recommendations made in the wake of the Columbia accident found that the agency has failed to meet...

Panel closes more CAIB recommendations
Posted: Thu, Jun 9 7:38 AM ET (1138 GMT)
An independent panel said Wednesday that NASA has now met 12 of the 15 recommendations in the final report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (...

NASA denies loosening shuttle safety
Posted: Sat, Apr 23 10:29 AM ET (1429 GMT)
NASA shuttle managers said Friday that they are not compromising the safety of the space shuttle by adjusting standards of risk of damage to the...