![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Because of these delays, delivery of the two highest-profile science labs, the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) and the European Columbus module, has been bumped up in the ISS assembly schedule. International partners are getting fidgety, as many ISS components are ready to go. “Between now and the May-June time frame, there are still some technical hurdles to be crossed by NASA,” added Jean-Jacques Dordain, head of the European Space Agency (ESA). “It’s the vehicle that brings all the bits and pieces to build the station, like solar panels and the modules that the Europeans and Japanese want to bring up,” explained Marc Garneau, president of the Canadian Space Agency. Speaking at a joint press conference, representatives of the world’s space agencies acknowledged that the return of the shuttle would be vital to successful completion of ISS. If all remains on schedule, ISS will have a full crew of six by January 2009. Crew size was reduced because only the three-seat Russian Soyuz spacecraft is available to taxi astronauts. The partners at the meeting agreed that once the shuttle is flying, the number of station residents would return to three. Since the shuttle has been grounded, ISS has hosted only two astronauts at any one time. STS-115, the first of 28 shuttle missions needed to complete ISS, will supply a new set of solar arrays and batteries. The third, now tentatively scheduled for December 2005, will support resumed construction. The first two flights will deliver fresh supplies to the space station. “While we’ll never eliminate the risk of flying shuttles, ” O’Keefe said, “the best way to minimize the risk is to minimize the number of flights.” However, for safety reasons, he wants the job done in the fewest flights possible. O’Keefe reiterated NASA’s commitment to deliver the station’s major components. Delays have meant rising costs for the nations involved. “The first step in this process is to return the shuttle to flight, and to complete the International Space Station by the end of the decade, and retire the shuttle thereafter,” said O’Keefe.Ĭurrently only half-built, ISS construction is dependent on the shuttle. Last week’s meeting did come up with a precise sequence for assembly, but no specific dates can be decided upon until the shuttle successfully goes through its shakedown flights. If the shuttles check out on two test flights scheduled for May and July, they will be ready to begin ferrying components to the station once more. Since the Columbia disaster, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe says, over $1.5 billion has been invested in modifying the shuttles, and everything is on track to restart construction of ISS this fall. Representatives from the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan and Europe - the five partners involved in managing, building, and operating ISS - all vowed to complete the station by the end of this decade. The heads of the partnering agencies endorsed a strategy that outlines the station’s fate - specifically, the deadline for completion of ISS construction, its working life span, and cooperation terms. Last Wednesday, while the station’s current two-man crew was finishing a space walk, leaders of the world’s space agencies gathered in Montreal to discuss the orbiting facility’s future. ![]() But if all goes according to a new plan approved by a consortium of international partners involved with the outpost, construction will resume later this year. Two years after grounding the space shuttle, assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) is at a near standstill. ![]()
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