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Next ISS Mission Could Be Postponed After Shuttle Delay
Moscow (RIAN) Aug 31, 2006 The lift-off of the 14th expedition to the International Space Station could be put off from September 14 to 18 after a shuttle launch was delayed, the head of a leading Russian space company said Wednesday. The launch of the Atlantis shuttle, previously scheduled for August 27, was delayed after a lightning strike on the orbiter's launch pad in Florida and fears are growing that an incoming tropical storm, Ernesto, may halt all launch preparations. "We are preparing the launch [of the 14th expedition] in accordance with the September 14 schedule, but if the shuttle lifts off in the September 6-8 window, the launch of the 14th expedition will be put off until September 18," said Nikolai Sevastyanov, president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation. He said September 18 was a crucial deadline for the launch of the 187-day mission on board a Soyuz TMA-9 because otherwise the 13th expedition on the ISS would have to return at night, which could pose some problems. He added that the corporation had agreed with NASA that Atlantis be launched no sooner than September 8. He said that if the shuttle failed to meet the deadline, its next window would be in October, and the Soyuz would be launched September 14 as planned. The spacecraft will carry the 14th ISS crew, consisting of Russia's Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. Michael Lopez-Alegria. Japanese space tourist Daisuke Enomoto failed a medical, and the Russian Federal Space Agency decided on August 22 to send a U.S. woman of Iranian descent into space. Tehran-born Anousheh Ansari, who turns 40 next year, will become the first female space tourist.
Source: RIA Novosti Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com
Astronaut Photography Passes 240,000 Mark on Space Station
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 30, 2006If you viewed one a day, it would take more than 500 years to see them all. If you printed and stacked them on top of each other, they'd reach taller than a six-story building. And if you leafed through them at a leisurely pace, they'd show you the amazing wonder of Earth, as seen from the International Space Station. |
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