FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2275.PDF
SMCCmftFlfr Shuttle dependent The International Space Station is too dependent on the Space Shuttle, say NASA and prime contractor Boeing TIM FURNISS/LONDON FLYING MORE THAN seven Space Shuttle missions a year could jeopardise safety, says astronaut Brewster Shaw, who heads the Boeing International Space Station programme. This conclusion - sup ported by NASA - has important ramifications for the International Space Station (ISS), already six years late. With some Shuttle missions required for non-ISS needs such as servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, just five missions may be left each year to continue the ISS' assembly to keep it on track for a target completion date in 2004. Of the 46 missions required to complete the assembly, the Shuttle will make more than 30. Completion in 2004 will be 10 years later than the target set when President Ronald Reagan inaugurated the programme - once called Freedom-in 1984. Shaw, who clocked up 22 days space time on Shuttle missions STS9, 61B and 28 between 1983 and 1989, twice as commander, and once head of the Space Shuttle programme, says try ing to fly eight or more Shuttle missions a year "would tax the system", especially with employ ee cuts at United Space Alliance, the Boeing- Lockheed Martin company which operates the Space Shuttle for NASA. United Space Alliance is "doing quite well, but it would be difficult to sustain a high flight rate", says Shaw. Hundreds of jobs were lost as a result of pri vatising Shuttle operations and through cuts at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, creating fears that safety and fleet viability would jeopardised. More staff would be required to support more flights. "It takes time to process the sys tem, get the ISS elements together, do the test ing and integration.. The plan we have laid out is probably as good as we can hope to do," says Shaw (see table). Even with a full seven Shuttle ISS missions a year, completing assembly by 2004 would still be difficult, suggesting to some observers that the ISS is too Shuttle-dependent. For example, there are seven Shuttle missions planned between next February and November, exclud ing two other non-ISS manifested missions, including a science research flight. That totals nine missions, so two will have to go. Translate that to the ISS and the assembly-complete date falls further into 2004, or even perhaps 2005. The other issue, aside from maintaining the flight rate, is the possibility of a Shuttle accident. Losing or damaging an orbiter - or particularly the loss of a crew - could ground the Shuttle programme, and therefore the ISS. The Zarya and Unity await the launch of the Zvezda service module in November (above). How the ISS may look in 2004 It took 20 months to get the Shuttle flying again after the Challenger acci dent in 1986. Dan Goldin, NASAs administrator, says that if there was another accident, the Shuttle, like an airline, would keep on flying. But this is an "air line" with just four vehicles. Shaw believes there is a will in the USA for the Shuttle to keep flying and for the ISS to continue. "We have international obligations," he says. Components are being contributed by Canada, Japan, Europe and Brazil. "Being a space-faring person, I would hope that we can keep going. Would Columbus have turned back if he lost one of his ships? I don't think so." He adds, however, that "another thing to stress is the fleet issue". Three of the four Shuttle orbiters - the Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour - can fly ISS missions. The Columbia is too heavy. "If one of these was grounded or lost, together with the ISS hardware it was carrying, the effect would be even worse," he says. The main problem is getting the Space Shuttle ISS missions off die ground. No launch es can take place until the Russian service mod ule, Zvezda, takes off. Already over a year late in delivery, the module is at Baikonur in Kazakh stan, scheduled for launch on 12 November. 42 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 August 1999
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
