NASA has set target launch dates for the eight space
shuttle missions in 2009 and 2010 that are expected to be the fleet's last.
The pre-retirement schedule for the shuttle has 10
remaining flights, including missions already scheduled for Oct. 8 and Nov. 10
of this year.
The plan is to replace the shuttle fleet with the
Orion craft, which is being built and tested now.
But first, seven assembly flights are slated to complete
construction on the International Space Station, with an additional two
contingency flights planned for completion before the end of the fiscal year
2010.
The space shuttle Atlantis' upcoming STS-125 mission, set
to launch Oct. 8, aims to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA initially delayed
the flight to make improvements to the shuttle external fuel tanks.
More concern arose when the previous launch of shuttle
Discovery damaged
the flame trenches extending from one of two main launch pads at Cape
Canaveral, Florida. But repairs that started in late June should allow the
Hubble repair mission to go
on schedule, NASA officials said.
The on-time launch of Atlantis and Endeavour's STS-126
mission would make 2008 the busiest shuttle flight year since NASA's return to
flight following the 2003 Columbia tragedy.
NASA has long planned to phase out its three remaining
shuttles by 2010, and anticipates losing
3,000 to 4,000 related jobs at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
agency has already begun transitioning toward a new
era of spaceflight with its Constellation program.
The final shuttle flight is currently scheduled for May
31, and would represent the 35th flight to the space station.
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