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Nasa to resume shuttle missions
By Daniel Lak
BBC correspondent in Miami

The American space agency Nasa says the first space shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster of 2003 is to be launched next May or early June.
All shuttle missions had been suspended pending investigation of the accident, in which seven astronauts died.

Improvements have also been made to the shuttle and launch vehicle.

Plans to resume the launches in March were also put back after hurricanes hit east Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center is located, in July and August.

The Nasa official in charge of human space flight, William Readdy, said the decision to resume shuttle launches next May was a major relief for the space agency.

Florida's worst ever hurricane season hit Nasa hard.

Three of the four hurricanes to come ashore in the state swept over or near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's eastern coast.

Even before the storms hit, Nasa engineers were already warning that work on modifying the shuttles was getting behind schedule.

There is still a chance that the May launch date could be delayed, officials said.

Columbia lessons

The Columbia accident was found to have been caused by damage to the shuttle's wing.

That was caused in turn when heat-shielding foam broke away from the fuel tank during launch.

The damage went undetected until the Columbia was in the final moments of its return to Earth.

By then it was too late. Super-heated air inside the wing caused the shuttle to disintegrate in flight.

It was the second fatal accident in 113 shuttle missions.

About 28 more missions are planned once launches resume, most to help build the International Space Station.

Critics say the shuttle fleet is too old and too expensive and the station could be put together more effectively by using single-use rockets.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...re/3967045.stm

Published: 2004/10/30 04:02:36 GMT