NASA has launched its efforts to get the space shuttle back into service by issuing a 156-page 鈥渋mplementation plan鈥�. But many vital details remain to be filled in, including costs and a target date for the next shuttle launch.
The plan comes only two weeks after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board鈥檚 issued its damning report. The NASA plan lists responses to all 29 CAIB recommendations on how to prevent another shuttle disaster.
Yet nobody expects the shuttle to be as easy to launch as a report. 鈥淭he way ahead is very daunting,鈥� said William Readdy, NASA associate administrator for space flight, said at a press conference on Monday.
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Readdy called the next launch 鈥渁 developmental test flight鈥�. NASA will not announce a target date until it evaluates the challenges. 鈥淚n the next three weeks we will have a much better feeling for when that launch date will be,鈥� said Bill Parsons, space shuttle program manager.
Choices are limited by the International Space Station鈥檚 orbit and need to launch in daylight, so cameras can scan the shuttle. The next windows are 19 May to 28 June and 18 July to 26 August.
New crew
Plans for the test flight, which will involve the shuttle Atlantis, are still evolving. It is likely to deliver supplies to the ISS, including over 1000 litres of badly needed water. But officials say it is not likely to carry a new ISS crew, as was originally planned.
NASA鈥檚 web site says the two-man crew due to arrive at the station in October, Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri, will fly on a Russian Soyuz capsule and return on 29 April 2004 鈥� a date not in the shuttle launch windows.
Before the next launch, NASA must act on the 15 recommendations the CAIB specified for returning to flight. Many of these relate to the impact of foam on the shuttle鈥檚 wing, which led to the loss of Columbia.
Cameras will be mounted on the external tank and solid rocket boosters to monitor the shuttle鈥檚 wings during launch. Non-destructive tests are being evaluated to check the reinforced carbon composite heat shields before each flight. NASA is also developing an ISS-based laser system to scan for surface damage to the carbon panels while the shuttle is in orbit.
Concept definition
Parsons said the hardest technical task will be finding a way to repair the brittle heat shields in space. Promising early tests of a silicone-based patching material could lead to repair kits for tiles on the shuttle鈥檚 body by March. But Columbia was destroyed by a breach in the wing鈥檚 leading edge and the implementation plan says these repair materials are 鈥渟till in the concept definition phase鈥�.
The toughest issue of all for NASA managers is likely to be resolving the 鈥渃ultural鈥� problems that CAIB said were just as responsible for Columbia鈥檚 loss as technical failures. 鈥淭here is a can-do culture we would like to keep,鈥� Readdy said, but NASA will look to outsiders to assess their progress.
The implementation plan is 鈥渨ay too preliminary鈥� to estimate costs, Readdy added. The numbers will come later, but by then Congress should have finished the fiscal 2004 budget, which with President Bush鈥檚 request for another $87 billion for Iraq could run a deficit above $500 billion.
