NASA to speed up shuttle launch schedule

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

NASA officials in Washington plan to double the number of shuttle flights to hasten the completion of the International Space Station amid safety concerns.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it has scheduled six shuttle launches for 2008, twice that of the previous two years, in an effort to complete the assembly of the International Space Station even though there are concerns about the durability and safety of the 27-year-old shuttle fleet, The Washington Post said Sunday.

Recurring electrical problems grounded the space shuttle Atlantis in December, and budgetary, political and maintenance considerations may tempt the fate of future missions.

NASA officials said they're confident the spaceships can complete the work load by the time they are to be retired in September 2010, but critics worry the ambitious schedule may be at the cost of safety.

"This pressure feels so familiar," said Alex Roland, a former NASA historian with Duke University. "It was the same before the Challenger and Columbia disasters: this push to do more with a spaceship that is inherently unpredictable because it is so complex."

NASA officials said the next mission has a tentative launch date of Jan. 24.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

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Posted by holoman 01/06/08 17:13

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Space shuttle to Mars ?

Several companies working on keeping shuttle program alive along with the thousands of jobs.

http://www.spacei...ome.html

http://nlspropulsion.net

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Posted by zbarlici 01/07/08 00:59

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allright holoman, even though slightly off-topic, i will jump on the "space shuttle to mars" bandwagon.

Around May 2008, the public will have peer reviewed results on the IEC fusion technology which will eventually(within 10 yrs) be used as rocket engines...

The company`s website
http://www.emc2fusion.org

Here`s a bit on the QED plasma engine utilising the IEC reactor
http://www.ibibli...ems.HTML

More links referring to this technology
http://www.talk-p...hp?t=112

Anyways i can barely wait for the results!!!

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Posted by holoman 01/07/08 09:09

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The technology I mentioned works solely with the space shuttle so its not off topic.

Bussard's QED is really way out there and has no
working relation to the space shuttle.

Its interesting that Bussards IEC fusion engine
has been around >40 years and the scientific and/or space community has not embraced it enough to make a protoype. Even the inventor Dr. Bussard never saw his dream materialize.

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Posted by vlam67 01/07/08 15:52

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...
Bussard's QED is really way out there and has no
working relation to the space shuttle.
Its interesting that Bussards IEC fusion engine
has been around >40 years and the scientific "and/or space community has not embraced it enough to make a protoype. Even the inventor Dr. Bussard never saw his dream materialize....

It's a no-brainer if you ask me...The ignorant and gullible public has been brain-washed so effectively that any technology that has the world "nuclear energy" or anything that is remotely connected with the word "nuclear" such as fusion is as loved as a dead rat in the soup! And they will move heaven and earth to kill it. I wonder what wil they say if anti-matter is abundant? Probably:"Not natural and not by God's will". Hopeless.
And, by the way, they scream and protest, while inhaling much more radioactive products from coal and oil-fired power stations exhausts than nuclear power stations emit while doing the protesting!
Oil lobbyists, I salute you!
God bless Homo Stupidus (I don't think He will bother!)

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Posted by zbarlici 01/07/08 20:18

Not rated yet.

The technology I mentioned works solely with the space shuttle so its not off topic.

Bussard's QED is really way out there and has no
working relation to the space shuttle.

Its interesting that Bussards IEC fusion engine
has been around >40 years and the scientific and/or space community has not embraced it enough to make a protoype. Even the inventor Dr. Bussard never saw his dream materialize.

The fusion age has arrived.