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Shuttle's Spring 2005 launch date delayed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-02 14:45
NASA decided Friday to delay the spring 2005 launch date for the first
shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy, citing hurricane damage and more work
needed to meet a panel's safety recommendations.
NASA's spaceflight leadership council said a shuttle launch in March or April
is "no longer achievable." The group asked shuttle program officials to analyze
whether a May or July date is more feasible for a shuttle launch, and to report
back to the council later this month, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.
NASA's shuttle fleet has been grounded since space shuttle Columbia
disintegrated during re-entry in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts
aboard.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board issued 15 recommendations NASA is
working to meet before resuming shuttle flights. The agency has met five of the
recommendations so far, Beutel said.
"Right now, those milestones are pointing us toward a new launch window,"
said William Readdy, NASA associate administrator for space operations.
James Kennedy, director of Florida's Kennedy Space Center, said recent
hurricanes that battered the state cost workers three weeks of
shuttle-processing time.
Hurricanes Charley and Frances caused widespread damage to NASA's launch site
in Florida in mid-August. Hurricane Jeanne later blew off 30 exterior panels
from the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building.
The threat of Hurricane Ivan temporarily halted work on space shuttle
Discovery's redesigned external fuel tank at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s assembly
plant in New Orleans, Beutel said.
The agency's three space shuttles safely made it through the storms, but the
damage and work delays at space centers throughout the Southeast strained an
already tight deadline to launch Discovery.
"I am proud of our shuttle team for taking good care of our orbiters during
this terrible storm season," Readdy said. "I am pleased they are taking the time
to make a careful assessment of the hurricanes' impact. Their thoroughness will
help us make the right decision."
The first possible launch window beyond March or April opens on May 14, 2005,
Beutel said. Other windows will follow in July and September.
The council met in Houston Friday to discuss the upcoming launch of the next
space station crew, scheduled to take off from Kazakhstan on Oct.
14.
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