This is in keeping with what I heard from a friend from church who had a senior role with the Discovery mission (I live five miles from Johnson Space Center).

NASA may push back plans to launch its next shuttle mission until March 2006, allowing engineers more time to solve an ongoing foam shedding problem with orbiter external tanks.

A September launch attempt of the space shuttle Atlantis and its STS-121 mission – NASA’s second orbiter to fly since the Columbia disaster – is all but out, with space agency officials stating last week that chances were slim they would make the four-day window that opens on Sept. 22.

Shuttle managers are discussing whether to push past a brief, four-day launch window in November, and even switch shuttles – launching Discovery instead of Atlantis – for the next orbiter flight, NASA officials said.

“There have indeed been discussions about that,” NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told SPACE.com, adding that an update on NASA’s shuttle program status is set for 12:00 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) today.

Unless I miss my guess, the spring mission is a done deal. The September window is too quick, there really isnÂ’t a good window through most of the winter, and a delay until March gives them significant time to accomplish something.

But I will also note – while the folks at JSC are committed to flying the shuttle, many of them are already involved in projects that are focused on the next generation of craft and their missions. Do not be surprised to hear increased talk of placing objects into L1 & L2 orbits

Posted by: Greg at 01:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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