As the Space Shuttle Discovery prepares for another pointless trip to the International Space Station in July, NASA is apparently worried that another mission gone wrong could bring a premature end to the program.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA rolled the space shuttle Discovery onto a launch pad on Friday hoping to leave behind problems exposed by the 2003 Columbia disaster and begin a final round of flights before the shuttle fleet is retired.
Discovery was being prepared for liftoff in July on NASA’s second and final shuttle test-flight since the fatal accident, when Columbia disintegrated on reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
A successful flight will allow NASA to resume construction of the half-built International Space Station and possibly extend the life of the beloved Hubble Space Telescope, which has allowed humans to peer into far galaxies.
But with the shuttle fleet due to retire in 2010, any serious problems during July’s mission likely would bring a premature end to the shuttle program and disrupt NASA’s plans to keep its skilled work force intact while a replacement spacecraft is being developed.
“If we go and fly and have another accident that will be the end of the program,” Wayne Hale, NASA’s shuttle program manager, recently told reporters.
Considering that there is, at most, no more than 3 1/2 years of life left in the program to begin with, a premature end probably wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. It would force NASA to focus its attention on programs that actually work, like unmanned missions to Mars and elsewhere, and would create a unique opportunity for private rocketry to provide the serivices, such as satellite launching, that NASA now has a near monoply on.
And, apparently, experts are beginning to recognize that:
“NASA needs to get out of the business of flying the space shuttle. Everybody agrees on that,” said Howard McCurdy, professor of public policy at American University in Washington.
NASA wants to uphold its agreement to build the space station, a multi-nation project, before switching its workforce to the lunar exploration program.
If it fails, says McCurdy, instead of heading out to their Florida launch pads, the shuttles will be moving into museums.
Well, the Space Shuttle Enterpise makes a pretty cool museum piece up at the National Air & Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport. I’m sure Discovery and Atlantis could find a home.
May 21st, 2006 at 10:27 pm
And the “new” vehicle will be based on the same solidrocket boosters and the same rocket engines, and mostly on thechnology that is 40 years old.
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:09 am
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