It was heading out of the area and was directed by our air tower to land. The area around the space center is restricted. |
The goal of (the safety stand down) was to try to prevent accidents like this. The bottom line is that we're doing everything we can to make sure things like this don't happen. |
These things do happen. I wouldn't say that it's a regular occurrence but we do get some every month. Most are innocent intrusions. |
They're individually looking at each one of those, pulling them out and refitting them to make sure they're ready for the next flight. |
We expect Jim's successor to be selected in plenty of time to make a smooth transition. The new person will likely be named sometime in the fall. |
We have the pros, the right people doing it. We're very confident and when it's done, the orbiter will be as good as can be when it comes to gap fillers. |