SHUTTLE SCUTTLE UPDATE

?We neededabout $1 billion for each of the next two years to really put us on the glidepath to make that a high confidence plan,? said John Hanley, manager of NASA?sConstellation program overseeing Ares and Orion development, of the 2013 targetin a Sept. NASA is currently spending about $3 billion per yearthrough 2010 on Orion and Ares I, but could have been farther along ifadditional funds were available, program managers said. 10, after being pushed from an earlier Augustlaunch date due to fuel tank delays.įundingconstraints, meanwhile, have hindered design review plans for the Orion CrewExploration Vehicle. The Hubbleflight is slated to lift off Oct. But delays to the next shuttle flight - Atlantis?STS-125 mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope - pushed the AresI-X test flight to no earlier than next June because NASA must hold the Arespad in reserve for a second shuttle, which is serving as a rescue ship in caseof an emergency. The agencyhad hoped to launch the first Ares I test - dubbed Ares I-X - from the KennedySpace Center in Florida by April 15, 2009, under a plan to begin manned flighttests as early as 2013. ?Ares and Orion aregoing very well for development projects on a scale that the agency has nottackled for decades.?

SHUTTLE SCUTTLE UPDATE

So figuring out and fixing them is what we do,? NASA Administrator MikeGriffin said in a televised agency-wide update on Sept. ?You?realways going to find out that there are things you don?t know, which can befixed. The plan calls for Ares I rocketsto launch Orion capsules to orbit on flights to the International Space Stationor to link up with a lunar transfer stage and Altair moon lander loftedseparately atop a planned Ares V heavy-lift booster.īudgetshortfalls and recent shuttle flight delays prompted NASA?s Constellationprogram to push back internal targets for test flying Ares and Orion crewvehicles, though officials hit a milestone earlier this month when anengineering panel signed off on the preliminary design for Ares I rockets. NASA?s hasplanned to retire its three shuttle fleet since 2004 under the Vision for SpaceExploration, which includes bringing Orion and Ares I online by 2015 andsending astronauts back to the moon by 2020.

Shuttle scuttle