[KellyAdmirer]

Ah, they want to launch in January, the coldest month of the year, yet again. I knew it. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I hand it to NASA, they really know how to learn from their mistakes.

[snopercod]

I guess NASA reads Free Republic. This (obvious to the most casual observer) idea was posted almost a year ago on bones's thread.

[old-ager]

> January 2005

I cannot believe they are still talking about midwinter launches. They don't learn.

We should default on the stupid space station commitments.

[VRWC_minion]

Somehow having a rescue vehicle wouldn't make me feel more secure.

[George W. Bush]

But will we have a rescue shuttle to rescue the rescue shuttle?

[anymouse]

This is clearly a political ploy to placate Congress. I predicted last year that the "long pole in the tent" of getting the shuttle flying again was not technical but rather political. NASA has the challenge of regaining Congress' confidence that it can guaranty success of the next shuttle flight. Given that so many things can go wrong (and their are an endless number of Monday morning quarterbacks/space engineers willing to say that a thousand things can go wrong) it may be an impossible task, if Congressional whims cannot be satisfied.

Clearly we could have technically flown the shuttle last Spring, but not politically. All of the contingency hoops that NASA is jumping through right now is merely window dressing to placate Congress.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The rescue shuttle will not necessarily be on the launch pad, but will be ready to fly to the space station within 45 to 90 days

Quick! Name the last STS mission that had a 90 day supply of life support necessities on board.

If there were a shuttle ready to fly a rescue mission in 45 days to rescue the crew of Columbia last year, all they'd have brought home would have been corpses. I recall NASA stating that the Columbia crew would have lasted 2 more weeks with what they had on board when they poo pooed the idea of a rescue vehicle last year. What changed?

[hopespringseternal]

1. The damage done to the orbiter on launch is the sort of thing that simply can't be engineered away. It was freak, and there will always be a nonzero chance of it happening again.

2. The problem that lead to the breakup was more a failure of management. The problem could have been managed, no attempt was made to manage it.

3. I don't know what technical changes are planned, if any to improve safety. So far the emphasis is on management, as it should be, but those changes should have been quick to identify and quick to implement.

4. The shuttle is a dead system. The compromises made to get Nixon's OMB to fund it removed the very reason to build it in the first place. The real flaws are architectural. No amount of tweaking will make it a fundamentally safe, reliable, or cheap vehicle, so why bother? Risk is not eliminated, just managed. The shuttle risks are well known, and both accidents were the result of boneheaded management.

5. The space station is married to the shuttle and in the wrong orbit. It can't really be lifted with anything else, and its orbit makes it useless for many of the things you would build a station for.

6. All the national second-guessing that follows these accidents is an indication of the problem. How many test pilots have died? You name a street at Edwards after them and move on. But space is treated differently. Every launch is a national event, and rightly so for the portion of the budget it consumes. This is silly. Launches should be so routine than no one notices, and an accident is much less grievous than the loss of an airliner that the world barely hiccups over.

7. We will never go anywhere in space, indeed space will never really be worth doing until we let go of the current paradigm and open it up to the people. Come up with reasonable launch regulations, refute stupid treaties and provide meaningful subsidy for the development of space. End wasteful, national prestige antics and treating every astronaut and vehicle like an irreplaceable national treasure.

[RightWhale]

What are the Las Vegas odds the Shuttle will never fly again?

[jpsb]

"NASA recently canceled one last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and consigned it to an early death

The new Republican NASA, Hubble need 1 service mission and does more and better science then the ISS, so NASA decides to dedicate shuttle missions to ISS. Great thinking NASA, way to go. Let your best science instrument burn up while letting the BS ISS burn up our tax dollars.

Space is a dangerous place if NASA doesn't have enough spine to send men into space when men need to go into space then NASA needs to go away and let some other group that still has the "right stuff" take over.

[leadpenny]

Heard on MSNBC about a half hour ago: Discovery will be the first to fly and Atlantis will be on standby to go if need be.
____________________

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-4769)

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)


Feb. 19, 2004
RELEASE : n04-065


NASA Updates Space Shuttle Return To Flight Plans

Members of NASA's Space Flight Leadership Council, which is charged with the oversight of the agency's Return to Flight efforts, today moved the target window for the next flight of the Space Shuttle to March 2005.

The decision was made at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston after an extensive review of activities surrounding plans to return the orbiter fleet to safe flight.

The council also decided that the Space Shuttle Discovery will carry Commander Eileen Collins and a six-person crew into orbit for the Return to Flight mission, which is designated as STS-114.

Media will be able to ask questions about the latest Space Shuttle decisions during a telephone conference Friday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m. EST. William Readdy, Associate Administrator for Space Flight and Michael Kostelnik, Deputy Associate Administrator for International Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs, will be available to brief reporters.

The teleconference phone number is 888/810-6755. The passcode for access to the conference is the word "Shuttle." Reporters should dial into the teleconference no later than 9:45 a.m. Media representatives who do not want to ask questions but would like to listen to the conference can use the following "monitor only" phone lines: 321/867-1220, 321/867-1240 or 321/867-1260.

Several issues factored into the decision to adjust the planning window for the mission.

More time is needed to:

assess the condition of the Rudder Speed Brake Actuators on the Shuttle orbiters;

research, analyze and test a larger area of the Space Shuttle's external fuel tank for potential foam insulation loss;

and design and build a new camera/laser boom that would be used by the Space Shuttle's robotic arm to help inspect for possible damage while in orbit.

The new STS-114 launch-planning window, which extends from March 6 to April 18, is designed to focus the efforts of Space Shuttle employees working toward Return to Flight.

"We've said for months that we'd be driven by milestones, not a calendar. When we successfully reach those milestones, that's when the Space Shuttle will return to safe flight," Readdy said. "The reports we got from the Space Shuttle Program today indicate to us we need to change the launch planning window for STS-114. This decision reflects our commitment to taking the time we need to make the Space Shuttle safer."

NASA is working with its international partners to assess the possible impact of the launch window change on the International Space Station. The Station program plans to continue safe two-person crewed operations while preparing for and supporting Space Shuttle Return to Flight. NASA also will discuss plans for an April 2005 Soyuz launch with its Russian Space Station partners, Rosaviakosmos.

The Space Flight Leadership Council is co-chaired by Readdy and Dr. Michael Greenfield, Associate Deputy Administrator for Technical Programs. It also includes the directors for NASA's four space flight centers, the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, Bryan O'Connor and Kostelnik.

Today's changes will be incorporated in the next update to NASA's Implementation Plan for Space Shuttle Return to Flight and Beyond.

For more information about NASA's Return to Flight efforts, including the current version of the Implementation Plan visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/news/highlights/returntoflight.html

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Brig. Gen. Duane Deal, a member of the team that investigated the space shuttle Columbia disaster, speaks during a news conference at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., on Monday. Deal said he fears NASA is laying the framework for another catastrophe by planning a September shuttle launch.

Bryan Oller / The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette / AP photo