March 03, 2009

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
katherine.trinidad{at}nasa.gov

RELEASE: 09-047

NASA ANNOUNCES MISHAP BOARD MEMBERS FOR OCO INVESTIGATION

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the members of the board that will
investigate the unsuccessful launch of the Orbiting Carbon
Observatory, or OCO, 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 OCO satellite failed to reach orbit after its 4:55 a.m. EST
liftoff Feb. 24 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

For information about the OCO failed launch and investigation, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/oco

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