Stresses That Testing Will Not Be Hurried

Barring a major technical problem, the next space shuttle mission could launch as soon as May 10. That's the word from shuttle program manager Wayne Hale, who in the next breath said NASA engineers will face a "somewhat aggressive schedule" to meet that launch window.

At a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Hale and other managers emphasized they would not rush the flight in order to stay on schedule -- despite the fact much critical work remains to be done with little "contingency time" left to absorb unexpected delays.

The New York Times reports, however, that should a delay crop up -- pushing Discovery's launch to July -- Hale said NASA could still meet its goal of three shuttle missions before the end of the year.

May's launch window for a shuttle mission to the ISS runs from May 10 to May 23; the next window, from July 1 to July 19.

Helping that schedule along is the arrival at KSC Wednesday of the shuttle's external fuel tank (below), the first tank to be without an aerodynamic aid called the protuberance airload ramp, or PAL.

During Discovery's last launch in July 2005, foam from that ramp broke off the tank and nearly collided with the orbiter, in a scenario eerily reminiscent of the series of events that doomed Columbia in 2003.

One of the critical factors in determining whether Discovery will fly in May is completion of wind tunnel tests to confirm it is safe to fly the fuel tank with the PAL ramp removed (it was originally placed on the tank for a reason, after all...)

Mission launch director Michael Leinbach stressed that no portion of the remaining tests would be cut short in order to meet NASA's target launch dates.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html