Space Forum / Shuttle / March 2005

No New Shuttle Flight Unless Rescue Mission Can Be Guaranteed

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/shuttle-05y.html

Washington (AFP) Mar 22, 2005

The United States will not resume shuttle flights unless it has a support
shuttle ready to carry out rescues in space, the US space agency said
Tuesday.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration suspended shuttle missions
after the Columbia disaster in February 2003. It had hoped to stage a new
flight in May this year with the shuttle Discovery.
But NASA said a new flight would not be held if a second shuttle could not
be launched in time to rescue a crew on the International Space Station.

"In the unlikely event that all of our efforts to reduce risk and safely
return the space shuttle to flight have failed, we have made plans to keep
the space shuttle crew on the International Space Station and mount a rescue
mission," NASA said in its latest report on preparations for shuttle
flights.

"For the near term, we will not launch a space shuttle unless the second
shuttle can be prepared and launched within the time the International Space
Station can provide accommodation for the first shuttle's crew."
Atlantis is generally considered the reserve shuttle of the three remaining
vessels. NASA said a rescue mission would only be carried out "in the most
dire of circumstances and will not be used to justify flying unsafely."

Columbia broke up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003,
killing all seven crew. Following criticism of NASA procedures, the other
three shuttles have been grounded since.

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