The Orlando Sentinel has an important piece today on concerns among mid-level NASA managers about cost and schedule driving the Return to Flight [RTF] mission. I want to pull two relevant quotes:

“Schedules are a necessary management tool, but they can get out of control,” said the CAIB chairman, retired Adm. Hal Gehman, who added that he is unaware of any new shuttle-budget and schedule problems. “We found schedule pressure to be a cause of the Columbia accident, and it could happen again.”

“The safety of the astronauts always has to take precedence,” the Johnson manager said. “Each of us needs to be prepared to step up and say, ‘It’s not safe. We’re not ready to fly,’ and let the chips fall where they may.”

Now, I’m one that always says, “The folks riding the rocket know the risks, and if they accept them, I can.” But let’s be honest: we’re not going to get a free pass from the American public on this one. They think that we can do it right every time, and if, God forbid, we lost two in a row, we’d be shut down.

We have an imperative from the CAIB to do it right. That takes time and money, and right now, we’re being given insufficient amounts of both.