NASA Announces Mishap Board Members for Oco Investigation

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011

Katherine Trinidad 202-358-1100
NASA Headquarters, Washington
katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 2009-036 March 3, 2009

NASA Announces Mishap Board Members for OCO Investigation

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA has selected the members of the board that will investigate the
unsuccessful launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory on Feb. 24. Rick Obenschain, deputy
director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will lead the mishap
investigation board.

The board consists of four other voting members:
-- Jose Caraballo, safety manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
-- Patricia Jones, acting chief of the Human Systems Integration Division in the Exploration
Technology Directorate at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.
-- Richard Lynch, Aerospace Systems Engineering, Goddard Space Flight Center
-- Dave Sollberger, deputy chief engineer of the NASA Launch Services Program at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The ex officio member is Ruth Jones, Safety and Mission Assurance manager at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The ex officio member assures board activity conforms to
NASA procedural requirements.

The board began its investigation March 3. The members will gather information, analyze the facts
and identify the failure's cause or causes and contributing factors. The board will make
recommendations for actions to prevent a similar incident.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 1:55 a.m. PST liftoff Feb. 24
from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

For information about the Orbiting Carbon Observatory failed launch and investigation, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/oco .

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has managed the Orbiting Carbon Observatory
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is managed for NASA by the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=deKNJXNzHlLRI4I&s=eoJQLPPpHaJCKOPvFoG&m=anLDKRPrH7LNH

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ghLTJ6PLJoKYKeL&s=eoJQLPPpHaJCKOPvFoG&m=anLDKRPrH7LNH