On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:30:41 -0400, john doe wrote:

But with the grounding of the shuttle, possibly for very long (indefinitely
?), would they consider leaving Rafaello at the station during STS 114 so that
the crews would have sufficient stowage space and not fill the station living
quarters with tons of supplies and rubbish ?

Raffaello is supposed to be brought home full of trash that's been
piling up in corners since STS-107 and broken parts for analysis, so
that wouldn't help much near term.

And now that the shuttle is apparently grounded, would there be pressure on
the europeans to bring ATV in sooner rather than later ? What is preventing
them from launching now ?

Jules Verne won't be ready until next spring. NASA doesn't own the
patent on busting launch schedules.

Brian