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NASA Chief: Shuttle Wire Inspection And Russian Software Glitch Are Delaying ISS Launch
By Daniel Sorid
Staff Writer
posted: 06:31 pm ET
14 October 1999
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zvezda_goldinDan Goldin, the administrator of NASA, said Thursday that Russian software tests are contributing to the delay of the launch of the Zvezda service module for the International Space Station. The Russians, Goldin said in an interview, "have encountered a few problems in validating their software. They're doing the final test to get it ready to launch." Goldin added that he believed that the component would be launched, "after Christmas, I think in January." Officials from the Russian Space Agency insist that Zvezda will be technically ready for launch in November. Goldin also said that the U.S. had a part in the delay. He said the shuttle wiring inspections, which pushed back at least two launches, were also delaying the launch of the Russian piece. In comments made Wednesday, a spokesman for a Russian company working on the module said in an interview that repair work on the U.S. fleet of Space Shuttles was delaying the launch of Zvezda. The spokesman, Sergei Gromov of RKK Energia, also said that Zvezda, which is the primary Russian contribution to the ISS, could realistically be expected to be launched in February 2000. Zvezda is slated to be the very first ISS living quarters and laboratory for space station dwellers. The U.S. Navy has prepared their own module, the so-called Interim Control Module, that could be launched in Zvezda's place. Correction: The original version of the story did not include comments by Goldin that space shuttle delays were also contributing to the postponement of Zvezda's launch.
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