The planning will allow the orbiter Atlantis to visit the Station in April if needed, ahead of the arrival of the Russian Zvezda service module, to perform maintenance.

However, managers could decide as late as March to return to the original planned content for STS-101 and eliminate the added mission based on the launch date selected for the Russian Zvezda service module by the Station program.

The option including a Station maintenance flight would distribute the original content of STS-101 between two Shuttle missions. The first mission, now targeted for launch no earlier than April 13 aboard Atlantis, will retain the STS-101 designation but be a 10-day long flight to perform maintenance on the International Space Station's Zarya and Unity modules.

The second mission, which would be designated STS-106 and remains under review by managers, would be a Zvezda module outfitting mission that would dock with the Station about one month after Zvezda's launch.

The plan for near-term Shuttle and International Space Station launches now includes:

Date  Mission/Vehicle  Payload

Jan 1 STS-99/Endeavour Space Radar Topography Mission
Apr13 STS-101/Atlantis ISS maintenance/Assembly Flt 2A.2a
TBD   ISS-1R/Proton    Zvezda service module/Assembly Flt 1R
TBD   STS-106/TBD      ISS Zvezda outfitting/Assembly Flt 2A.2b

Whether or not STS-106 will be required and any necessary adjustments to the target launch dates for subsequent Shuttle flights will be dependent on the launch date scheduled for Zvezda.

A launch date for Zvezda is expected to be selected following an International Space Station Joint Program Review to be held next month. The composition of crews for a revised STS-101 and STS-106 is under review.

NASA's Shuttle and ISS Portal

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Space

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

SPACEDAILY

Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.