Bill Gerstenmaier Quotations

Wayne's qualifications and his ability to perform this job speak for themselves,

I think it's wrong to take the (May) launch period and speculate whether we will make it or not. That puts schedule pressure on the teams.

I think it's really wrong to try to pick out one potential root cause and say that's the underlying problem or that's the smoking gun. Foam is very complicated. The failure mechanism is likely some combination of things and it's really wrong to try to pick out one and then try to focus all your efforts on that. That will actually set you 8up for more problems in the future.

It is incumbent on us to develop an executable option, or face the risk of a less desirable option being imposed upon us,

Last week we identified the major areas where foam came off the tank. We are starting to make some sense of the data ... what the mechanism for the foam loss was.

I think conditions won't be good on the station, but they'll be better than the alternative. We kind of always plan for the worst, but hope for the best.

Our system today is designed for a maximum of three to six crew, and for six just temporarily.

We haven't set a launch date, but we are clearly aiming for May.

We probably won't make the September 22 window.

We still are going to be able to accommodate the number of flights we need to get the station in a good configuration for the partners.

We've been saying for months that our engineering work would determine when we fly our next mission,. Targeting July is the right choice in order to make smart decisions.

We don't need to have a flight this spring to make the 19 flights.

We are working through the restrictions with Congress as fast as we can.

We've decided not to fly with the ramps, but we have to put some kind of (protective covering) in that area. There are multiple solutions. Engineers are just trying to decide which one of those is the right one to do that gives us the right safety margins.

We've decided not to fly with the (ramps), but we have to put some kind of (protective covering) in that area.

We didn't find anything that showed the specific root cause, we just need to keep looking.

We didn't find any immediate, easy fixes here.

There are lots of firsts with this mission, and sometimes when you do firsts, the hardware surprises you and doesn't operate exactly the way you intended it to operate. So I think there will be some surprises.

We want to get back flying as soon as we can, but we're not overly pressured. We'll do that at the right time. This is a small investment to get back a tremendous capability and that is to complete the International Space Station (and) prepare ourselves for exploration.

We don't say we're setting a launch date, but we're clearly aiming for May. May looks very doable.

We think the best thing to do is just take them off.

We think that's the best thing to do, just take it off.

At this point, ... it's so uncertain, there are so many variables out there, I think it's foolish for us to try to speculate on a particular launch date.

At this point, it's so uncertain ... that it would be foolish to speculate on a date.

The station is a great proving ground for exploration. We've learned a lot about operating internationally and a lot about continuous operation, all of which applies directly to exploration.

It is our responsibility, individually and collectively, to make good decisions. As engineers, the machines we build can do great things but can also cause great harm.

It really makes sense to move to the March timeframe, ... We're looking at the Shuttle missions to support the most robust flight sequence for the Space Station and to make the whole sequence flow better. This extra time helps us make sure that all the work we need to do fits and that there are no other issues.

It's great to see you all on orbit. Have a good week and soft landings to the crew coming back.

The (Michoud) facility is in pretty good shape. The question is, what does the workforce want to do?

The (Michoud) facility is in pretty good shape,

In the spirit of cooperation, they are taking the higher ground. They know what occurred with the hurricane. They know what's happening in the bigger sense of things and they're willing to support us.

If he needs to come home on Soyuz, he can come home on Soyuz and if we can bring him home on shuttle, and it's advantageous...we'll do that, ... Either way, we will have a ride home for McArthur.

The focus has got to be on understanding the cracking phenomenon and working out an engineering solution, and then that will drive us to what we think the right period is for launch. We don't need to have a flight this spring to make the 19 flights.