The shuttle gets a new life

[shadron]

It appears that NASA's plans are getting another facelift from congress. No new funding, though. It adds at least one additional shuttle mission next year, and calls for more work on a legacy orbital capability.

http://news.discovery.com/space/new...uttles-on-the-job-for-now.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

The bill pares down Obama’s request for $6 billion over five years to develop commercial spaceliners to fly astronauts to the station to $1.6 billion over three years. Both plans budget about $3 billion annually to continue the space station and $5 billion annually for science.

Sounds to me like the aerospace biggies and the NASA labs are getting their ducks in a row.

 

[mike81]

Great news! Maybe I will get to see a shuttle launch in person now!

 

[BowlOfRed]

The title and the article don't seem to mesh to me. The only thing I got from the article about the shuttle in specific is one more flight. And that would be of a shuttle that is already planned to be nearly ready to launch as a contingency rescue craft for the flight prior. This is just saying that after doing that much work, go ahead and launch it as a full mission with a payload.

Anything beyond flying that last setup would require lots of money. Nothing in the article suggests that to me. No money for external tank refurbishment or construction. Hardly a new life.

 

[BenBurch]

They may have laid off too many people at contractor/suppliers to ever launch more than one additional mission.

 

[JJM]

They may have laid off too many people at contractor/suppliers to ever launch more than one additional mission.

One can only hope. Considering that their main job is keeping the toilet flushing, why don't they just launch "Joe the Plumber" from the McCain campaign? It would be a stunt as good as any other. Manned space flight is mostly a stunt.

 

[SpuriusMaximus]

Dude, don't underestimate toilet flushing. The U-1206 WW2 submarine was sunk by her captain using the toilet wrong. Do you really want to put a complete moron like Joe The Plumber anywhere near the toilets on the ISS, or for that matter anywhere near the ISS? I'm sure he'd find a way to use it wrong