US lawmakers re-emphasised concern over the space shuttles鈥� retirement in 2010 and a seamless transition to its successor, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, at a hearing on Wednesday.
The CEV, which could take humans to the Moon or to Mars, was initially scheduled to make its first crewed flight in 2014, but when Mike Griffin took over as NASA鈥檚 chief in April, he said he wanted to accelerate development of the CEV to avoid a period in which the US had no independent means of getting humans into space.
Griffin told the US Senate鈥檚 subcommittee on science and space that the agency is already working on ways to make a smooth switch from the shuttle to the CEV. 鈥淭his effort could very well be one of the largest single planned transitions NASA, or any federal agency, has ever undertaken,鈥� Griffin said in written testimony submitted to the subcommittee.
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He also hinted that he might divert money from the International Space Station鈥檚 research budget to help build the CEV. 鈥淭he station is limited in its research potential,鈥� he told the panel.
Unpleasant memories
NASA鈥檚 shuttle programme uses 640 buildings and employs 17,000 government employees and prime contractors. Griffin says the space agency is trying to learn lessons from Lockheed Martin, which is retiring its Titan 4 rocket. It had to find positions for its workers, some of whom transferred to the company鈥檚 new Atlas 5 rocket.
After NASA鈥檚 Apollo programme to the Moon ended, the agency was left with a down period before the space shuttle began flying. Griffin was an engineer at the time, and he says he did not want a repeat of the 1970s. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not one of my more pleasant memories.鈥�
One of NASA鈥檚 major concerns is skilled workers leaving the agency. 鈥淲e must carefully guard against the premature loss of either skilled expertise in the workforce or industrial capacity to support and sustain the space shuttle for however much longer it will fly,鈥� warns Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, chair of the subcommittee.
Phasing out
The CEV could use shuttle components 鈥� such as the solid rocket boosters 鈥� or it could be a version of the heavy-lift Delta 4 or Atlas 5 rockets with a new upper stage added. If the CEV ends up relying on shuttle parts, this would affect how the shuttle is phased out.
In the near-term, the space agency is focused on getting the shuttles back into space, following the 2003 Columbia accident. Michael McCulley, president and CEO of United Space Alliance, the company that prepares the shuttles for launch, said in written testimony that the space shuttle team has completed the processing work for 12 of the 15 recommendations made by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.
Officially, however, the Stafford-Covey Task Group, which examines NASA鈥檚 progress in putting the recommendations into effect, says that NASA has completely met seven of the 15 recommendations. The task group will have their next public meeting on 8 June 2005.
