"We have accepted the findings and will comply with the recommendations to the best of our ability," O'Keefe said in a statement.

The official inquiry into the February 1 breakup of the space shuttle said National Aeronautics and Space Administration managers and the agency's managerial culture were "as much a cause" of the tragedy as technical faults.

The inquiry wants the US adminstration and Congress to establish a new, independent, technical safety body to oversee future missions, but O'Keefe said NASA had already moved to address this concern.

"As an important step to change the culture of the agency, we have created the NASA Engineering Safety Center at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to provide comprehensive examination of all NASA programs and projects," O'Keefe said.

He said the space agency had already moved to "take action" on the earlier recommendations made by the board of inquiry.

An independent Return to Flight Task Group, led by former Apollo commander Thomas Stafford and former shuttle commander Richard Covey, is working with NASA in order to help the agency return to fight operations.

O'Keefe was appointed to his post in 2001 by President George W. Bush.

SPACE.WIRE