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Shuttle is 'a risky vehicle'
29/07/2005 08:23 - (SA)
Houston - Some critics are casting the space shuttle's latest setbacks as evidence it may be too costly and too risky in the twilight of its life, but Nasa and its backers are steeling themselves against any effort to retire it early.
"Maybe it's time to consider that this is the last straw, because the shuttle is enormously expensive. It's a risky vehicle. It's an old technology," said Louis Friedman, who directs the space interest group known as The Planetary Society.
"The shuttle is an amazing vehicle, and it can do things in space that no other asset ... can do," countered Nasa flight operations manager John Shannon. "No one is folding their tents."
Nasa managers who sent the shuttle back into space this week discovered it is still shedding big pieces of foam insulation on launch, and they suspended future flights.
The shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven, which was busy this week on a supply mission to the International Space Station, was apparently spared any serious damage during its launch on Tuesday, Nasa said after viewing additional photos.
One more major inspection of the spacecraft, most likely on Friday, is needed before Nasa can clear Discovery for its return home on August 7.
'Let's not overreact'
However, frustrated Nasa leaders, who have labored since 2003 to limit potential damage to the shuttle's thermal covering, were forced to ground the fleet indefinitely to study more changes. The agency has already poured $1.4bn into trying to make the shuttle fleet safer.
"Maybe the money would be better spent on replacing the shuttle, rather than flying it," suggested John Pike, who directs the defence and space website Globalsecurity.org.
As it is, the almost 25-year-old shuttle programme is supposed to end around 2010. Nasa is hurrying to develop a new craft capable of going back to the moon and perhaps beyond, but that will probably take years. This same craft would go to the space station, too, at first, and be modified to go on to the moon and elsewhere.
Pike contended that the moon presents a bolder goal. He said the International Space Station might be built out by other means, without the heavy lifting of the shuttle.
But such alternatives are by no means assured. "No shuttle, no station!" snorted Doug Brown, whose brother David died on Columbia. He said the shuttle is worth overhauling, if it can be done: "They may have to take a different approach ... but I wouldn't give up so easily."
Others are unsettled by any prospect of retiring the shuttle now and breaking American agreements to help international partners finish assembling the station. Japanese and European research labs are waiting on the ground for shuttle missions to hoist them to the space station.
"I think there would be symbolic damage to our image as a leading and competent country that can take on challenging commitments and carry them out," said space analyst John Logsdon. "Let's not overreact."
- AP
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