International Space Station

[Stuart]

I've heard through the grapevine that the ISS may be abandoned, both on financial grounds and because intense vibration running through the station structure makes many of the planned uses difficult or impossible. is there any truth to these rumors? (I'm defense community, not space so anything I hear about the space program gets distorted)

[ToSeek]

First I've heard. If there were any truth to the rumor, I'd expect either NasaWatch (http://www.nasawatch.com) or Bob Park (http://www.aps.org/WN/) (who really has it in for the ISS) to have mentioned it.

_________________
"... to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson, Ulysses

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ToSeek on 2002-11-27 09:55 ]</font>

[AJ]

I just read an article about it here
http://www.msnbc.com/news/840268.asp?0dm=C11MT

If the evacuation really happens no matter who's fault it is NASA will get covered in a lot of mud.

-AJ

[heliopause]

Abandon ship! Spend the money on something worthwhile!

[RafaelAustin]

Fear not fellow astronaut wannabees! The ISS is on schedule to complete it's upgrade through Shuttle flight 10A in Feb. 2004 to install U.S. Node 2 and complete the solar array. It leaves as questionable about 20 missions scheduled from April 2004 to January 2008. (http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/future/index.html)

This is borrowed from a post I made on another BB 11-14-2002:

Looks like NASA has figured a way out of their budget problems and will finish the ISS and extend the Shuttle program with the assist of a new Space Plane. President Bush has signed off on this.

CNN article: (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/11/14/space.plane.ap/)


The budget amendment calls for spending:

• $1.6 billion to upgrade and improve the four-vehicle space shuttle fleet so it could operate until about 2012. The plan leaves open an option of extending shuttle usage into the 2020s.

• $15.2 billion over the next decade or so to add a fifth shuttle flight to the annual schedule. The shuttle has been limited by budget constraints to four flights a year and nearly all have been dedicated to assembly of the space station. The added flight could be used to accelerate station assembly or to perform other missions that are not now possible.

• $6.6 billion through 2006 to finish the basic assembly of the space station. This includes completion and installation by February 19, 2004, of Node 2, a U.S.-made cornerstone component to which European and Japanese components will be attached. "Node 2 completion is a big deal for us," said O'Keefe.

• $1.8 billion to support biological and physical research aboard the space station.

• $2.4 billion to research and develop technologies needed to build a new space system to replace the shuttle. This money would continue a long-range effort to develop a reusable craft that could frequently fly into orbit with less preparation and effort than is required for the space shuttle. O'Keefe would not estimate the final cost of such a craft, but a chart released by the agency suggested it would first fly in 2015.

• $2.4 billion to complete by 2004 the design of a new space plane that is intended specifically to ferry people in and out of space. O'Keefe said the design is still uncertain, but it would be a reusable spacecraft launched by expendable rockets. It could carry as many as 10 people. The plan calls for the craft to start operations sometime between 2008 and 2010.

See also NASA's budget site. (http://www.nasa.gov/budget/budget2003_index.html)

[Under Dog]

If nasa ever did that I would lose a lot of respect for them.

[GrapesOfWrath]

Did you guys notice the APOD a couple days ago (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021208.html)? Click on the image to get a nice blow up of the space station.

[xriso]

Is that thing about the vibrations true?