Jacques van Oene
April 30th 05, 09:05 AM
Dean Acosta/Melissa Mathews
Headquarters, Washington April 29, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-1400/1272)
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
RELEASE: 05-113
NASA ANNOUNCES NEW WINDOW FOR SHUTTLE RETURN TO FLIGHT
NASA announced today July 13 to 31 is the new launch planning window
for the Space Shuttle Discovery mission. The new window gives the agency
time to do additional work to ensure a safe Return to Flight for Discovery
and its crew.
Today's announcement follows Space Shuttle Program reviews over the past two
weeks. Managers identified the need to do more work to validate engineering
analyses of potential debris hazards and to make some additional
modifications to the external fuel tank. NASA officials and program managers
agreed late Thursday to take the time to complete the work.
"This is consistent with our overall approach to the STS-114 mission, which
is that we're going to return to flight, we're not going to rush to flight,"
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a morning news conference at NASA
Headquarters. "Our intent with this effort is to make certain we are as safe
as we know how to be before we launch the Space Shuttle and its crew. We
want it to be right."
"From the beginning we've been milestone-driven," said William Readdy, NASA
associate administrator for Space Operations. "This time, the milestones on
debris and ice analyses, propulsion system troubleshooting and External Tank
modifications drove us to retarget for July. We've never been reluctant to
adjust the dates as information becomes available."
The Return to Flight mission will take Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins and
six crew members to the International Space Station. The mission is the
first of two test flights to evaluate new thermal protection system
inspection and repair techniques and to deliver supplies and equipment to
the Station. A transcript of today's news conference and follow-on technical
briefing from NASA's Johnson Space Center is available at:
www.nasa.gov/returntoflight
-end-
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
Headquarters, Washington April 29, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-1400/1272)
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
RELEASE: 05-113
NASA ANNOUNCES NEW WINDOW FOR SHUTTLE RETURN TO FLIGHT
NASA announced today July 13 to 31 is the new launch planning window
for the Space Shuttle Discovery mission. The new window gives the agency
time to do additional work to ensure a safe Return to Flight for Discovery
and its crew.
Today's announcement follows Space Shuttle Program reviews over the past two
weeks. Managers identified the need to do more work to validate engineering
analyses of potential debris hazards and to make some additional
modifications to the external fuel tank. NASA officials and program managers
agreed late Thursday to take the time to complete the work.
"This is consistent with our overall approach to the STS-114 mission, which
is that we're going to return to flight, we're not going to rush to flight,"
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a morning news conference at NASA
Headquarters. "Our intent with this effort is to make certain we are as safe
as we know how to be before we launch the Space Shuttle and its crew. We
want it to be right."
"From the beginning we've been milestone-driven," said William Readdy, NASA
associate administrator for Space Operations. "This time, the milestones on
debris and ice analyses, propulsion system troubleshooting and External Tank
modifications drove us to retarget for July. We've never been reluctant to
adjust the dates as information becomes available."
The Return to Flight mission will take Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins and
six crew members to the International Space Station. The mission is the
first of two test flights to evaluate new thermal protection system
inspection and repair techniques and to deliver supplies and equipment to
the Station. A transcript of today's news conference and follow-on technical
briefing from NASA's Johnson Space Center is available at:
www.nasa.gov/returntoflight
-end-
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info