[meteorite-list] Shuttle can't complete ISS

[Darren Garrison]

To me, the ISS has been just about the polar opposite of the mind-blowingly-successful Mars rovers--
the ISS has seemed to be a nearly total disaster all along the way.  

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/cgi-bin/news/newsbrief.plx?id=2238036240&fa=1

NASA Chief: 'We cannot execute 28 flights'

June 17, 2005 10:22 a.m. EST


Christina Ficara - All Headline News Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AHN) - NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, announces Thursday that the
space-shuttle's planned 28 flights by its 2010 retirement has little to no chance of
happening.According to Griffin, a reduced schedule will lead to significant changes in how the
International Space Station (ISS) is assembled and supplied. 

The station, still incomplete, depended largely on the shuttle fleet to ferry equipment, supplies
and crew members, but the shuttles have been grounded since the loss of the Columbia and its crew in
February 2003.

The space agency continues to study how many missions the shuttles can undertake once they resume
flight, expected next month. Griffin proposes, however, that there could be as few as 15 and no more
than 23, because of the time it takes to process and fly missions.Study groups within NASA are
looking into alternatives for assembling the station and will consult with the White House before
presenting details to the other partners in the station project, including Russia, the European
Space Agency, Japan and Canada.