Nasa to resume shuttle missions

BBC News ^ | October 30, 2004 | Daniel Lak

[Paul Ross]

Nasa to resume shuttle missions
By Daniel LakBy Daniel Lak
BBC correspondent in Miami

The US space agency (Nasa) says the first space shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster of 2003 is to be launched next May or early June.

All shuttle missions had been suspended pending investigation of the accident, in which seven astronauts died. Improvements have also been made to the orbiter and its fuel tank system.

Plans to resume the launches in March were put back after hurricanes hit east Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center is located, in July and August.

The Nasa official in charge of human space flight, William Readdy, said the decision to resume shuttle launches next May was a major relief for the space agency.

The hurricane season hit Nasa particularly hard. Three of the four hurricanes to come ashore in the state swept over or near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's eastern coast. Even before the storms hit, Nasa engineers were already warning that work on modifying the shuttles was getting behind schedule.

There was still a chance that the May launch date could be delayed, officials said.

Columbia lessons

The Columbia accident was found to have been caused by damage to the shuttle's wing.

This came about because of heat-shielding foam that broke away from the fuel tank during launch.

The damage went undetected and proved catastrophic when Columbia re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Super-heated air got inside the wing and caused the shuttle to disintegrate in flight.

It was the second fatal accident in 113 shuttle missions.

About 28 more missions are planned once launches resume, most to help build the International Space Station.

Critics say the shuttle fleet is too old and too expensive and the station could be put together more effectively by using single-use rockets.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3967045.stm

Published: 2004/10/30 04:02:36 GMT

© BBC MMIV

[sevry]

NASA has become a soccer mommy organization.

When you create a bureacracy - you get bureacrats. You need special teams, special units, with the resources needed or available to them, in order to finish certain projects. It should be an agency with bold, aggressive thinking. Safety first, as always. But it can't be the only 'global test', as it were.

I suspect you've always had a battle between the explorer and science nerd (or to be fair, bureacrat nerd). Explorers like checklists, and safety features, and good design. But there is something that tells them to get a move on, as well - to get out there and explore.

[Moonman62]

With something as complicated as the shuttle, and considering it's pretty much just a huge bomb, which, when working properly, the explosion is controlled and directed out the tail nozzle, I think it's pretty remarkable.

Maybe, but the causes of both accidents were rather simple and preventable.

[Paul Ross]

Glad we don't stop all cars from driving on roads and highways for a year or two every time there is a major wreck or death on the highway...... Life is fragile, handle with care and prayer. But you have to go on.....

Indeed, just so. The resumption of American manned space flight is the only fitting tribute to these heroes...

[petercooper]

[Flightdeck]

Go manned space flight!

[Flightdeck]

"Give me a space ship commanded and staffed with Navy & Marine pilots and a couple US Army Special Forces guys."

Every single commander and pilot of every space shuttle is a Navy or Air Force pilot. You think another five pilots with egos as big as the moon are going to just sit in the back and twiddle their thumbs or ineptly perform experiments. The way the have it now works just fine.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[Paul Ross]

Uggh! Why don't you warn people about these visual affronts before you post them?

Any rate, if any of you have the time, and wish to honor those of our REAL heroes, and the REAL astronauts, please consider visiting the memorial for the Columbia which is found here: I think you will find this well worth going through every item.

Particularly poignant is the video, "The Best Among Us."

[Physicist]

Glad we don't stop all cars from driving on roads and highways for a year or two every time there is a major wreck or death on the highway......

Same here. On the other hand, if we learned through bitter experience that there existed a 2% chance of an incident that would destroy 25% of all the cars and kill their occupants, a hiatus might be in order.

The shuttle is the wrong spaceship for the wrong mission at the wrong time. Soyuz is the right spaceship for the wrong mission at the wrong time.