GALVESTON, Texas -- NASA will most likely not fly a space shuttle until early 2005, delaying plans for a fall launch to allow additional studies into the foam insulation coating on the craft's external fuel tank.
The launch could be delayed into March of next year, an official said.
More detailed computer models, as well as a large wind tunnel test, are needed to generate a clearer picture of how foam insulation behaves during launch. The foam is believed to have caused the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and the deaths of the seven astronauts aboard, when a chunk broke off the external tank during launch and damaged the spacecraft's wing.
"We're generating a new model on the [airflow] field around the external tank during launch," explained Michael Kostelnik, NASA's deputy associate administrator for both the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle program. "But it's going to take us more time."
Kostelnik spoke with reporters here yesterday during the second Space Shuttle Life Extension Summit (SLEP).
The new computer model showed that more foam could strip away from the external tank and fly back toward the shuttle than depicted in past versions. A wind tunnel test has been scheduled for the spring at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, where researchers will compare the foam's behavior on a three-percent scale model of the external tank to data from computer models.
NASA originally targeted a return to flight between September and October of this year, with an additional launch window opening up in November. Instead, a roomy launch window in March 2005 appears more likely, Kostelnik said, adding that a brief launch opportunity in January -- just five days -- may be too slim a chance.
That narrow window would run Jan. 11-15, said Mike Greenfield, deputy associate administrator at NASA and a member of the agency's return to flight team.
Officials want as long a launch window as possible because with so many required changes being implemented, they don't want to find themselves in a situation with little time flexibility.
"It's very difficult to fly in that small a window, so I won't be disappointed if we don't make it," Kostelnik said. "It might be a good experience, even if we don't make it, to get everyone back in the saddle again for a run-through."
NASA has not flown any of its three remaining space shuttles since the loss of Columbia, though engineers have been working to address safety and hardware concerns associated with the spacecraft.
Space News' Brian Berger contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
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