Musk refutes report slamming safety standards | Spaceflight Now

By Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now, Posted 01/21/10

Link: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1001/19safety/

"A commercial space pioneer and a former astronaut are answering claims by an independent advisory panel that private companies do not meet NASA human-rating standards and last year's presidential review of the space program did not adequately consider safety.

In an annual report released Friday, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel...said it would be "unwise" to abandon NASA's Ares 1 rocket and turn to private companies to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit. The board said potential commercial crew transportation providers do not meet NASA safety standards for piloted vehicles."

Some commentators note that NASA's available safety standards are not clearly defined. SpaceX, the current primary private sector rocket developer contends that its Dragon capsule meets NASA's guidelines and they just need to acquire sufficient budget to develop a launch escape tower. Clear, comprehensive safety standards will be required in order to make objective comparisons between launchers.