NASA Puts Shuttle Mission's Risk at 1 in 100

Posted on: Jul. 26th, 2005 || Source: nytimes.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

NASA Puts Shuttle Mission's Risk at 1 in 100

With a new realism born of disaster, NASA says that the risk of catastrophic failure during the space shuttle Discovery's mission is about 1 in 100, more than twice as great as an upbeat estimate issued before the loss of the Columbia in 2003.

While the space agency is still working on an official estimate, a spokesman, Allard Beutel, said, it has devised a rough one that will be refined by insights from the investigation of the Columbia disaster, in which seven astronauts died as the ship broke up during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

The rise in estimated danger, Mr. Beutel said, came about "because we have a better understanding" of the craft's workings and limitations. He emphasized, though, that "it's a statistical probability, as opposed to what is going to happen." (The actual rate of catastrophic failure - as opposed to the calculated risk - now stands at 2 flights in 113, or 1 in 57.)

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