NASA considers extension of shuttle to 2015

William Atkins
Saturday, 30 August 2008 21:16

Science - Space

From this author’s viewpoint, it is wise to consider extending the shuttle program. And, that is all NASA is doing, just “considering” the impact it would have on its others program, especially its new Constellation program, whose prime mission is to get us to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA is just making a "feasibility" study: Is it feasible to extend the shuttles to 2015? They do feasibility studies all of the time concerning "what-if" scenarios.

NASA has until fall 2008 to make a final decision. However, its decision, in my opinion, will rest mostly on the U.S. Congress.

Even if NASA concludes it would like to un-retire the shuttles, unless it has extra money from Congress, that effort will probably not happen.

Thus, the question is: Will the United States pony up more money to extend the shuttle program so that the new Constellation program can proceed without being adversely affected?

If they don’t, the United States risks the chance that Russia will not fulfill its promise to sell us spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station between 2010 and 2015.

More likely than not, Russia will come through. But, we are giving up our independence when we retire one program five years before the next one is up and running. We will be forced to depend on Russia for its launch capabilities and its spacecraft to deliver cargo and crew to the space station.

Minimally, the space shuttle could be launched twice each year in order to send a new crew of astronauts to the space station and return the existing crew back to Earth. Each Expedition crew at the ISS would stay there for a six-month period. Over a five-year period, ten flights could be allocated for these ISS missions. Thus, the two shuttles would each fly five times.

The European Space Agency has already shown the capability to send cargo (with its Jules Verne automated transfer vehicle) safety and successfully to the Space Station. That ability allows extra safeguards in case additional cargo, but not crews, is needed in between flights.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. NASA is only considering the extension through its feasibility study. Let’s first see what the evaluation concludes.

However, it would be prudent for the members of Congress to look into whether we, as a nation, can afford to un-retire the space shuttles for another five years. What are the advantages and disadvantages? And, most importantly, how much is the cost and where will that money come from?