During his time there, he helped test a great deal of French flight hardware.
He said, "There is virtually no possibility that any damaged O ring has ever gotten into the flight hardware."
Company officials say they have no major concerns about the two most significant changes in the new flight hardware.
All flight hardware will undergo qualification and acceptance testing.
Although none of these proposals ever made it into operation, many were considered seriously, and in some cases flight hardware was constructed prior to cancellation.
There is no evidence to indicate if any flight hardware was built.
The effort to build the station has cost more than $8 billion since its start in 1984, although little flight hardware has been produced.
The satellites were constructed largely from spare flight hardware.
No flight hardware has yet been built, although some $4 billion has been spent on design studies and the building of prototype parts.
The boilerplate took the place of actual flight hardware.