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US Space Shuttle Becomes Burden
Washington (AFP) Jul 30, 2005 NASA's failure to make Discovery completely safe has given new ammunition to critics who want to ground the space shuttle program, even though the popular spacecraft remains the United States' only vehicle to space. Insulating foam fell off Discovery as it launched Tuesday, prompting NASA to say it would suspend future launches because it failed to fix a problem that doomed the Columbia shuttle in February 2003. The Columbia tragedy was blamed on a piece of foam that broke from an external fuel tank and hit a wing upon take off. The damage caused the shuttle to break apart later as it returned to Earth, killing the seven astronauts aboard. While the US space agency said it would only be able to give Discovery the all-clear this weekend, it has expressed confidence that Discovery did not suffer serious damage. The space shuttle's long-term fate is already sealed, as President George W. Bush said it would be retired in 2010 and eventually replaced by a more modern fleet. The aging fleet will be off the US budget's books in October Then, "it will be time to move on," NASA chief Michael Griffin said before Discovery's launch. A new Crew Exploration Vehicle would be tested by 2008 and conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014, the White House has said. Griffin is eager to replace the old spacecraft with a newer model in order to put in place Bush's vision for space exploration, which includes a return to the Moon and eventually a manned mission to Mars. NASA was left with three spacecraft after the Columbia disaster, which came nearly 17 years after Challenger exploded on takeoff. Dumping the space shuttle would make the United States dependent on Russia to send astronauts to the International Space Station, where Discovery is currently docked. But the current fleet has strong political support backed by public opinion and the cost of maintaining Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. Astronauts train at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where Bush was governor. The shuttle is launched at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and employs 14,000 people in a state whose governor is Bush's brother, Jeb Bush. The shuttle's latest setback has yet to reverberate in Congress amid the summer lull, but the debate will likely pick up in September. US Representative Sherwood Boehlert, chairman of the House Committee on Science, said NASA must fix the falling foam debris problem before it can launch again. "The foam has been the primary concern ever since the loss of Columbia," he said. "Obviously this problem must be addressed before the shuttle can fly again." Some experts criticized NASA's decision to send a full, seven-crew team aboard Discovery. "I wrote a letter to the president telling him we shouldn't have a full crew on the shuttle, we should only fly three or four people because of situations like this," said Don Nelson, a former NASA engineer. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour Comes To Life
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Oct 07, 2005Engineers cheered as electricity coursed through Space Shuttle Endeavour today for the first time in two years. The powering of Endeavour signaled the end of the orbiter's major modification period at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. |
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