Can Nasa shuttle fly until 2015?

2008-09-01 11:03

Cape Canaveral - Nasa's staff will study whether the space shuttle programme could continue operating past its scheduled retirement in 2010, according to an internal e-mail sent this week.

The e-mail obtained by The Orlando Sentinel describes Nasa Administrator Michael Griffin's order for a study to determine if the shuttle could fly until 2015, when Nasa's next-generation space platform is expected to be completed.

"We want to focus on helping bridge the gap of US vehicles travelling to the ISS (International Space Station) as efficiently as possible," wrote John Coggeshall, manager of manifest and schedules at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, in the e-mail sent on Wednesday.

Nasa officials confirmed the e-mail's authenticity, but said it was too soon to say what the study's reach would be.

"The e-mail did go out," spokesperson John Yembrick told The Associated Press. "The e-mail is premature. The parameters of the study have not yet been defined."

Economic and political concerns

Griffin has previously opposed extending the shuttle programme, which first launched in 1981, because the money and effort required to do so would hurt progress with the new Constellation launch platform for future orbital flights and proposed lunar missions.

The study comes amid economic and political concerns about the end of a programme that has brought thousands of jobs and billions in spending over decades to Cape Canaveral, Houston and other places where shuttle components are produced.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain was one of several senators asking Nasa to delay ramping down the shuttle programme for at least a year.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama has called for $2bn for Nasa to extend the shuttle past 2010.

And some are concerned that the current stopgap plan - buying Russian spacecraft - is unwise considering diplomatic tension with Russia highlighted by conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

Griffin has repeatedly raised the issue of how much it would cost to keep the shuttle flying. Last year, he estimated it could cost $4bn each year past 2010.

- AP