NASA Aims for May Space Shuttle Launch

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NASA, recovering from the four hurricanes that halted work at its Florida spaceport, said on Friday it has set a launch target in May, 2005, for the first space shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The launch schedule has slipped several times, and March had been the last target. But work days lost at the Kennedy Space Center put dates available in March and April out of reach, William Readdy, who heads human space flight programs at NASA, told reporters.

Two summer hurricanes delivered direct hits to the space center, scarring the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building where the shuttle orbiters are mated to booster rockets and external fuel tanks. Two other storms missed the seaside launch complex but came close enough that workers had to take precautionary measures to protect the agency's three remaining shuttles. The latest launch window would run from May 12 to June 3, NASA said. Shuttle Atlantis' flight would be the first since Columbia disintegrated over Texas in February, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.

News source: Reuters

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#1 greg098 on 31 Oct 2004 - 07:19

exciting

#2 Winnerboy on 31 Oct 2004 - 07:28

yep, go Nasa

#3 nookadum on 31 Oct 2004 - 15:22

Good luck to the team!

(5 replies) #4 bucko on 31 Oct 2004 - 21:18

Why don't they just build a new Shuttle from scratch and make it better and more effcient than the old one. Like the (is it X25?), if I was an astronaut I'd be worried like hell flying on a 70's computer.

#4.1 Foub on 31 Oct 2004 - 21:28

If they had built the one they wanted in the first place there wouldn't have been these "accidents". The prefered design would have cost more at the start, but would have been much cheaper to maintain. The design they got stuck with was cheaper at first, but cost far more to maintain. The prefered design didn't have the external booster rockets and that has been where all of the problems lie.

BTW, they've updated the computers since then. Plus the Astronauts bring along laptops.

#4.2 neufuse on 01 Nov 2004 - 02:51

there must be something right with how the shuttle is designed, because the Russians came up with a shuttle at the same time that looked very similar and functioned similarly (although because of the fall of the soviet union it never flew). But the computers on the shuttle have been upgraded a lot recently and they have done a lot in terms of renovating the shuttle of the past decade. It's a lot different inside then it was in the past.

#4.3 The_Nightshift on 01 Nov 2004 - 04:25

it was the X-33 and X-34 that were put up as shuttle replacement candidates, first of all, and quite frankly it was problems with maintaining enough cash to keep up with the program's bills. Although in the longterm nasa would've been better off finantially finishing and implementing one of the competing designs, it simply didn't have the cash up front to do it with.

Now understand, this is as Nasa tells it. For a pretty good view of the X-33 ended up from the oposite POV, I suggest checking this link

#4.4 mrbester on 01 Nov 2004 - 10:39

Steve Buscemi in Armageddon put it well: "You realise that you're relying on hardware supplied by the lowest bidder?"

It's about time the Shuttle program was put back on track. Yes there have been accidents / disasters / technical problems (delete as applicable), however, effectively mothballing the only semi-decent way to get into orbit (Hubble is going downhill fast) due to a knee-jerk "safety" nannyism was completely wrong. Especially as they go out of their way to prevent anybody else from getting out there.

#4.5 hog on 01 Nov 2004 - 19:01

nasa is going to stop using the current shuttles once the space station is done. They are using the current ones still because they have such big cargo bays and plus they cost a lot of money
http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Design-Spaceship.html

#5 Redmak on 03 Nov 2004 - 20:03

nice

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