LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Space Shuttle Program: Landing
built 278 days ago
Ron Dittemore, space shuttle program manager, makes remarks while holding a model of the shuttle during a press conference, at the Johnson Space Center, Monday, Feb. 2, 2003, in Houston. Photo by AP / Rick Bowmer.
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Until recently, the shuttle program had an admirable record for cost control. But NASA had made its $5 billion to $6 billion projection based on "success-oriented planning." That means it assumed everything would work the first time. Budgets were drawn as if redesigns would never be needed, as if no contingencies would arise, as if 520-second engine tests could be conducted with 300-second tanks.
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The shuttle can ... carry more habitable space than that in the crew cabin. In 1973, an agreement was reached between the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) for the construction by ESA of a pressurized, habitable workspace that could be carried in the shuttle's cargo bay. This workspace, designated Spacelab, was designed for use as a laboratory in which various science experiments could be conducted. Each of Spacelab module is 13 ft (3.9 m) wide and 8.9 ft (2.7 m) long. Equipment for experiments is arranged in racks along the walls of the Spacelab. The whole module is loaded into the cargo bay of the shuttle prior to take-off, and remains there while the shuttle is in orbit, with the cargo-bay doors opened to give access to space. When necessary, two Spacelab modules can be joined to form a single, larger workspace.
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The space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing this Thursday morning (10 am, SR-253) on “Issues Facing the U.S. Space Program after Retirement of the Space Shuttle”. The purpose of the hearing, according to the subcommittee, will be to “address issues related to the retirement of the Space Shuttle, its remaining missions… [NASA’s] plans to compensate should they not fulfill all mission requirements on schedule, and other issues facing NASA when the Space Shuttle is retired.” (Such as, presumably, “The Gap”.) Administrator Mike Griffin is scheduled to testify, along with associate administrators Bill Gerstenmaier and Richard Gilbrech.
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In April, 1996 NASA began a four-phase plan to keep the existing Space Shuttle fleet healthy and flying through at least the year 2012. The plan ... proposed modifications and upgrades that might keep the Space Shuttle fleet flying through the year 2030.
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Lifesaving Light - Special lighting technology developed for plant growth experiments on Space Shuttle Spacelab missions is now used to treat brain tumors in children. Doctors at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee use light emitting diodes in a treatment called photodynamic therapy, a form of chemotherapy, to kill cancerous tumors.
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