Seeker of Truth
02-01-2003, 07:05 PM
Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/02/01/national1310EST0583.DTL)
International space station crew retrievable even with shuttles grounded
MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer Saturday, February 1, 2003
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(02-01) 13:53 PST (AP) --
Even with its shuttles grounded, NASA can easily retrieve the astronauts aboard the international space station using Russian vehicles.
A Soyuz vehicle attached to the space station could bring the three astronauts onboard back to Earth at a moment's notice. But if the space agency's remaining shuttles are out of service for an extended period in the wake of Saturday's catastrophe, as seems likely, it could prove difficult to maintain the station's operations.
"This is clearly a big setback for station because during the rest of this year shuttles were supposed to carry up lots of big pieces of hardware for assembly," said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
NASA plans call for expanding the space station during five shuttle flights this year. On the next flight, scheduled for launch March 1, shuttle Atlantis has orders to deliver supplies and scientific equipment. Subsequent missions this year call for installing a framework of external trusses and solar arrays.
"Certainly there is a hold on future flights until we get ourselves established and understand how this happened," space shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said Saturday.
Russian space agency officials said they were ready to pick up some of the slack if NASA grounds its shuttle fleet. But with Russia's ability to launch supply vehicles to the international station already compromised by budget problems, the loss of U.S. space shuttle Columbia could seriously jeopardize the continued operation of the outpost.
With no permanent crew aboard, the space station can operate in a "dormant" mode as long as occasional maintenance is performed by visiting astronauts. In fact, NASA had already been considering a "demanning" contingency for 2003 before Saturday's events.
But the longer the station went unoccupied, the greater the chances that it would deteriorate to an uninhabitable state. A dormant period would also cause a significant interruption in the station's continuing assembly and scientific research program.
International space station crew retrievable even with shuttles grounded
MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer Saturday, February 1, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(02-01) 13:53 PST (AP) --
Even with its shuttles grounded, NASA can easily retrieve the astronauts aboard the international space station using Russian vehicles.
A Soyuz vehicle attached to the space station could bring the three astronauts onboard back to Earth at a moment's notice. But if the space agency's remaining shuttles are out of service for an extended period in the wake of Saturday's catastrophe, as seems likely, it could prove difficult to maintain the station's operations.
"This is clearly a big setback for station because during the rest of this year shuttles were supposed to carry up lots of big pieces of hardware for assembly," said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
NASA plans call for expanding the space station during five shuttle flights this year. On the next flight, scheduled for launch March 1, shuttle Atlantis has orders to deliver supplies and scientific equipment. Subsequent missions this year call for installing a framework of external trusses and solar arrays.
"Certainly there is a hold on future flights until we get ourselves established and understand how this happened," space shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said Saturday.
Russian space agency officials said they were ready to pick up some of the slack if NASA grounds its shuttle fleet. But with Russia's ability to launch supply vehicles to the international station already compromised by budget problems, the loss of U.S. space shuttle Columbia could seriously jeopardize the continued operation of the outpost.
With no permanent crew aboard, the space station can operate in a "dormant" mode as long as occasional maintenance is performed by visiting astronauts. In fact, NASA had already been considering a "demanning" contingency for 2003 before Saturday's events.
But the longer the station went unoccupied, the greater the chances that it would deteriorate to an uninhabitable state. A dormant period would also cause a significant interruption in the station's continuing assembly and scientific research program.