The New York Times reports on NASA

The New York Times is reporting that NASA is loosening the risk standards for the shuttle. Part of me thinks that this is news only because The New York Times was able to see documents they hadn't seen before. I get the sense reading this article that what's really going on is that NASA, fresh from a tragic accident, is faced with the difficult problem of successfully resuming what has to be one of the riskiest endevours in the history of man--sending people into space. One almost wonders reading this piece if NASA is so dumb and divorced from reality that they aren't concerned about public relations and making a good faith effort to meet all the recommendations that have been proffered to them in light of the Columbia disaster. I think what's really going on is that certain sectors of the government and the press have forgotten how dangerous space flight is--no matter what precautions you take. I hope that people don't really expect NASA to live up to the same safety standards as Delta Airlines. If that were the case, the shuttle would NEVER fly. The men and women who fly on the shuttle understand better than anyone the risks involved. And I'm positive that every member of the upcoming Discovery mission will say that what they are doing is well worth putting their lives on the line. And furthermore, I seriously doubt that any member of the next mission would board Discovery if they had any doubt that NASA hasn't taken every reasonable precaution within its powers to correct the problems exposed by Columbia's destruction.