Word: nasa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After Robins was demoted in September 1986, she transferred from Unisys to a Rockwell subsidiary, Rockwell Shuttle Operations Co. There she repeated her complaints about Unisys to her new bosses as well as to the FBI and NASA's inspector general. As a result, she states, she was isolated and continually harassed at work. She says that she received three unsigned letters containing threats such as "whistle-blowers face loss of home, family and life." Two of the other whistle-blowers also charge that anonymous telephone threats have been made against their children; they do not accuse the companies...
Other shuttle engineers have expressed similar concerns. A former Rockwell quality-assurance engineer says that an audit he conducted of Rockwell's shuttle hardware and software last July revealed that only 12% met NASA's contract specifications. The day after submitting his report, he contends, his supervisor told him that "we had to change the figure to 96% or better." He refused. Five weeks later he was suspended and then later fired...
Apparently shaken by the growing attention to the safety experts' report, NASA called a press conference last week at which George Rodney, the agency's top safety official, said he had thoroughly reorganized safety and quality- control operations. This included a 30% increase in personnel assigned to these watchdog duties. A tough former test pilot and Martin Marietta official, Rodney declared that anyone with a safety complaint could now readily get the attention of key project managers...
According to Rodney, NASA has established closer communication with the astronauts on safety issues, correcting one of the Rogers commission's major criticisms. But two of the astronauts scheduled for the next launch said they had not even been given the safety-review committee's stern report...
...space agency claims that nearly all the 72 recommendations made in the report have been followed. In fact, NASA contends, many of the steps had been taken by the time it received the report. Rodney announced that experts will be asked to take another, updated look at NASA's safety controls. Declared NASA Administrator James Fletcher: "We will fly only when we are ready. And readiness means that the shuttle will fly only when it's as safe as we can make...