NASA to Discuss ISS Construction with Partners

This full view of the International Space Station was photographed by an STS-114 astronaut aboard the space shuttle Discovery following the undocking of the two spacecraft on August 6, 2005. CREDIT: NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL - Space leaders from around the world are gathering at Kennedy Space Center this week to finalize the launch sequence for the remaining pieces of the International Space Station.

The construction of the space station has been at a standstill since the 2003 shuttle Columbia disaster. After one more post-Columbia test flight, which is set for May, NASA plans to resume construction of the half-built station with about 15 shuttle missions.

The European Space Agency has been lobbying NASA for an earlier launch of its Columbus science laboratory, which is expected to be delivered to KSC in late May. The core of the Japanese section of the station - a pressurized laboratory module named Kibo - is in launch preparations in the Space Station Processing Facility.

In addition to schedule, the space chiefs will discuss plans for station operations, including crew size.

Meeting with NASA Administrator Mike Griffin will be: Virendra Jha, acting president of the Canadian Space Agency; Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general of the European Space Agency; Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency; and Anatolli Perminov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Many of the international leaders were to arrive in Brevard County on Monday night or today. The key meeting among Griffin and his equals from other countries is Thursday.

Griffin has made completion of the station a high because of commitments made to other nations. The NASA chief has said he wants international participation in NASA's coming expeditions to the moon and Mars.

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