Nasa: Next shuttle mission will be test flight
Nasa’s first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster would be a “test flight”, with astronauts inspecting their ship and practising repair techniques, the space agency announced tonight.
The agency considered flying the minimum number of astronauts and keeping the mission as short as possible, but later decided to go with a full set of six or seven astronauts on a normal-length mission of about a week and a half to perform some overdue repair work at the international space station.
“If we’re going to go through all this risk to get there and do that, we ought to go ahead and make sure that we do some of those things that are important to the international space station because if we don’t do those things, it raises the risk of the station,” said Bill Parsons, the new shuttle programme manager.
No firm launch date has been set for the next shuttle, Atlantis. But in all likelihood, it will not deliver a fresh crew to the space station as originally intended.
Instead, the focus will be on inspecting the shuttle for exterior damage, using cameras on both the shuttle and space station, and practising repair techniques.
Other objectives, like delivering supplies to the space station, would take a back seat, said William Readdy, a former shuttle commander, now Nasa’s top space-flight official,
Readdy said the next flight might not represent as much of a shakedown as the first shuttle trip in 1981, a two-day mission by Columbia and just two pilots.
But he noted: “This is really and truly a developmental test flight getting back to building and assembling the space station” and implementing all 15 of the Columbia accident board’s recommendations required for return to flight.
All seven astronauts on board the Columbia were killed on February 1 when the shuttle broke apart over Texas as it re-entered the atmosphere from space.
Nasa has yet to settle on all the details of an emergency rescue plan.
But in a 156-page return-to-flight report issued tonight, the space agency said it was looking at using the space station as an emergency shelter for stranded shuttle astronauts and considering having another spacecraft ready to blast off on a rescue mission.
“Our first line of defence is: Don’t have any debris come off and strike the shuttle. The second line is to have inspection techniques and repair capabilities so we can come home safely,” Parsons said.
The release of Nasa’s initial return-to-flight plan comes two weeks after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that a stray piece of insulating foam and a broken safety culture were responsible for the shuttle’s destruction.
Readdy stressed that the plan was “a living document” that would evolve in the coming weeks and months.
Some Nasa officials have talked about resuming shuttle flights as early as March, but most have said privately that next summer would be a more realistic estimate.
“Whether that turns out to be March or April or May or June or July, so be it. We will be safety-driven and not schedule-driven,” Readdy said.
