Shuttles burden NASA [1]: \"NASA...

Shuttles burden NASA: "NASA should turn over most, if not all, shuttle operations to some kind of private enterprise, a task force has advised administrator Sean O'Keefe. The cost to operate, repair and maintain the fleet and its ground equipment has become too great a burden for NASA, the panel said in a report given to O'Keefe in September but not made public until this week. Shuttle Discovery is shown here in the Vehicle Assembly building. A panel of advisers, chosen from inside and outside of NASA, advised administrator Sean O'Keefe that the space agency should turn over the $3.8 billion a year in shuttle operation costs to some kind of private enterprise. Photo Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY. The report, which was prepared by a panel of advisers chosen from inside and outside NASA, offers O'Keefe pros and cons about varying degrees of private operation of the $3.8 billion a year shuttle program."