NASA considers extension of shuttle to 2015

by William Atkins

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! NASA administrator Michael Griffin has asked his troops to consider what it would take to extend the operational life of the U.S. space shuttle fleet out to 2015. With a scheduled retirement in 2010, NASA is considering whether the Space Transportation System (STS), the space shuttle fleet, could continue to operate for an additional five years. According to The Orlando Sentinel newspaper article “NASA to study extending shuttle era to 2015,” it acquired an email that describes Griffin’s request for the feasibility study. Part of the internal-NASA email, which was sent by John Coggeshall (manager of Manifest and Schedules at the Johnson Space Center, Houston), on Wednesday, August 27, 2008, states, “We want to focus on helping bridge the gap of US vehicles travelling to the ISS as efficiently as possible.” Such action by NASA is undoubtedly due largely to straining relations with Russia over its invasion of Georgia. Russia is currently supposed to provide Soyuz ships (under a purchase agreement) for trips back and forth from the Space Station, carrying cargo and replacement crews, during the five years while the United States does not have the capacity to launch manned flights. That is, between the 2010 retirement of the space shuttle fleet and the beginning of the Orion/Ares fleet in 2015. The email goes to say that the possibility exists that two of the three orbiters would not be retired. The third one would, thus, be used as spare parts for the two operational ones. What does NASA further say in the email? Please read on. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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