Katherine Trinidad 202-358-1100 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. 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.
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