Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) actions to address the recommendations in the report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.

GAO found that NASA has addressed or is addressing the intent of all 39 report recommendations. GAO also found that NASA: (1) established an advisory panel, including a NASA safety organization representative, to address space station and shuttle issues; (2) has not devised criteria for evaluating the acceptability of landing conditions at the Kennedy Space Center and is planning to schedule landings at Edwards Air Force Base; (3) established a closed-loop accounting system within its System Integrity Assurance Program to track successful accomplishment of critical maintenance procedures; (4) established a new tracking system to report waived inspections; and (5) initiated actions to alleviate the need for routine removal of parts from one orbiter for use in another.