Posted: Wed, Sep 24, 2003, 11:39 AM ET (1539 GMT)
One of the members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) who resigned this week said Tuesday that there have been several incidents on the International Space Station that have threatened the station and its crew. Arthur Zygielbaum, one of the nine ASAP members who stepped down Monday, told the AP that there have been three incidents on the ISS that threatened the crew, all linked to a lack of coordination between the US and Russia. One incident took place last week, according to Zygielbaum, when a Progress spacecraft attached to the station fired its thrusters to adjust the station's attitude earlier than planned, and the station’s reaction control wheels fought the maneuver. In another case, the station drifted without attitude control while the shuttle was docked on a previous mission because of a miscommunication between Russians and Americans, while in a third case the Russians brought a battery to the station against the wished of NASA. Zygielbaum and the other members of ASAP resigned last week out of frustration from a lack of influence over shuttle and station safety, and also to allow NASA more freedom to revamp the panel.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  Houston Chronicle article