CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -
NASA's goal of five space shuttle
missions this year may be too ambitious, the new director of Kennedy Space
Center said Wednesday.
Former shuttle program
manager Bill Parsons, who last week took over as head of the space center, said
the logistical hurdles may be too high to make the schedule
of shuttle launches set for March, June, September, October and December.
The problem is NASA's ability to get each of the three
shuttles in shape to fly again so soon after each returns home from space.
Five missions this year
would be the most ambitious schedule since 2002, which also had five missions.
All the shuttle flights this year are geared toward finishing construction of
the International Space
Station, which is to be completed by
2010 when the shuttle program ends.
"I know that we have three
(flights) that we believe we can really make right now,'' said Parsons. "The
other two are going to be a little tougher at the end of the year. One of them
may slip over into the next year, but that's really no big deal.''
But the space agency and
employees at Kennedy are working at an "operational'' pace and ready to repeat
the successes of 2006 which had three
triumphant shuttle missions, said Parsons.
"We've got that momentum
going,'' he said.
Since the Columbia disaster
in early 2003, there have been just four shuttle missions - three of them last
year.
advertisement
