THE International Space Station may never be completed because of a dramatic rise in the cost of flying the space shuttle. NASA admitted last Friday that the worries over extra costs were forcing it to consider cutting planned flights.
The space shuttle has been grounded since Columbia broke apart when re-entering the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere in February 2003. NASA has pushed back the return-to-flight date several times since then, most recently on 1 October after delays due to recent hurricanes scuppered plans for a March launch. It now plans to resume flying next May.
The ISS was supposed to be completed by 2010, with 28 flights scheduled before then. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board recommended the vehicles be retired after that. All but two of the flights were due to carry important sections of the space station. Many of these parts have been designed and built specifically to be carried by the shuttle and so cannot easily be transported by other craft. Major sections still waiting to be placed in orbit include two science labs built by Japan and Europe, an observation unit, a power platform and solar arrays.
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鈥淭he cost of each shuttle flight has risen by over 50 per cent since the Columbia disaster鈥�
But the cost of flying the shuttle has risen to $860 million per flight, more than 50 per cent higher than it had been prior to the accident. Michael Kostelnik, NASA鈥檚 deputy associate administrator for the ISS and the space shuttle, said this has forced him to ask how the station could be assembled with fewer flights. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be prepared for a lot of alternative futures,鈥� he says.