Wayne Hale

Wayne Hale
N. Wayne Hale Jr.is a former NASA engineer. Previously a flight director and space shuttle program manager, Hale served as NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Strategic Partnerships prior to his retirement on July 31, 2010...
call fact perhaps pieces small solid strike
Perhaps some of the small pieces did in fact strike the orbiter but we don't have what I'll call solid evidence.
call fact perhaps pieces small solid strike
Perhaps some of the small pieces did in fact strike the orbiter, but we don't have what I'll call solid evidence.
hardware paying playing talking
We were playing the odds. The hardware was talking to us, and we were not paying attention.
confident flights launch sure three until
We will not launch until we are sure we can do it safely. But if we launch by July, we are confident we can still get three flights up this year.
change fly foremost prudent wish worked
We wish it had worked out differently, but it's first and foremost that we fly safely. It was prudent to change these sensors out.
We are under no thought of delaying launch.
believe pieces tank
Foam will still come off the tank after we have done all of these mitigation efforts. We believe the pieces that come off will be small.
evening good kennedy landing looking monday seems space
Everything seems to be looking very good for a landing Monday evening at the Kennedy Space Center.
analysis discovery ground kennedy pace proving safe space tests toward work
The thing that's going to pace getting Discovery off the ground is not the work we're doing at the Kennedy Space Center. It is the engineering analysis and tests that go toward proving what we have assembled is safe to fly.
looked safer shuttle
We've looked end-to-end at the shuttle to make improvements and make it safer than it has ever been.
action blanket cleared concern decided discovery represents
We have cleared Discovery to re-enter and we have decided not to take any action on the thermal blanket because we think that it represents negligible concern at this time.
call date launch serious
I would not call that a serious launch date at this point.
affects depend flights happens next
It does depend on what happens with those flights because when we get back from a mission, we have to see if there's anything that affects the next flight.
launch official
We have not set an official launch date,