Nasa Firm On Shuttle Retirement

[zavvy]

<b>Nasa Firm On Shuttle Retirement </b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Nasa is looking at other options for completing the International Space Station if it is not finished by the time the shuttle retires in 2010, the head of the US space agency has said. <br /><br />"The shuttle is inherently flawed. It does not have an escape system for its crew," Nasa chief Michael Griffin told a Senate oversight committee. <br /><br />"We all know that since human perfection is unattainable, sooner or later there will be another shuttle accident," he said. "I want to retire it before that flight can occur." <br /><br />Retiring the shuttle as scheduled will also ensure that money is available to develop a proposed replacement ship, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). <br /><br />"The expense of maintaining the shuttle fleet year after year is so great that in order to move effectively ahead on the Crew Exploration Vehicle systems, we must retire the shuttle. <br /><br />"We must retire it in an orderly fashion, we must fly every flight safely, but we must get it behind us," Griffin said. <br /><br />The new vehicle is part of a space transportation network which, in addition to ferrying crews to and from the space station, will lay the foundation for human expeditions to the moon and Mars. <br /><br />'Have to have priorities' <br /><br />The ship's first manned flight is targeted for 2014, but Griffin wants to speed development of the new vehicle to smooth the transition from shuttle to CEV. <br /><br />The price for doing so, however, is likely to spark howls of protests. Griffin told senators he is prepared to use money earmarked for space station science as well as technology development programs and planetary exploration missions. <br /><br />"We can't do everything on our plate," Griffin said. "We have to have priorities." <br /><br />Before Nasa can even test how amenable Congress, contractors and its international space

 

[wvbraun]

I read Griffin aims for 18 missions. Good news.