Shuttle Retirement In 2010 Under Review

An anonymous reader alerts us to an Orlando Sentinel report based on a leaked NASA email, indicating that NASA is looking at options to extend the Shuttle program. The fighting between Russia and Georgia has put a strain on plans to rely on Russian boosters until the Shuttle's replacement flies in 2015. Yet extending the Shuttle's life is no sure thing. According to a former NASA program manager, "We started shutting down the shuttle four years ago. That horse has left the barn." And NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has told Congress that if the Shuttle fleet were to fly two missions a year until 2015, "the risk would be about one in 12 that we would lose another crew. That's a high risk... [one] I would not choose to accept on behalf of our astronauts." And then there's the matter of finding the $4 billion a year it would take to keep the fleet operational. The Sentinel mentions that John McCain has called for additional Shuttle flights, but doesn't mention that Barack Obama has made the same point, as the BBC reports.

Comments

Re:Nothing is 'safe'

[JasterBobaMereel]

The Shuttle was reusable but this did not save money

The shuttle was a satellite launch vehicle - but was not efficient enough or large enough there were better launch vehicles when it first flew

The turn around time is far too long

Carrying astronauts to do repair work does not require the shuttle - it was envisaged that the shuttle would capture a satellite put it in the cargo hold and it would be repaired there - but this is not done because it only makes the work harder ...and many satellites will not fit ...

The ISS is serviced mostly by conventional vehicles, and the shuttle is not required

It is expensive outdated and very inefficient

The big question is what have NASA been doing for the last 20 years on designing a replacement and why will it take another 7 ....