Approaching Space Center, and End of Line for Shuttle Program

From New York Times: Approaching Space Center, and End of Line for Shuttle Program

NEAR KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — A train pulling the last set of space shuttle solid-fuel booster segments reached the Kennedy Space Center last Thursday — a day after the shuttle Atlantis completed its final planned mission — in a reminder that the program is nearing the end of the line.

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William Hardwood
Onward Resembling a wagon from the Old West, a rail car with booster segments neared the Kennedy Space Center.

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Times Topic: Space Shuttle“I remember when we heard about the last solid rocket booster test firing, the last main engine test firing, the last tank manufacturing and now the last set of boosters coming to K.S.C.,” said the shuttle’s launch director, Michael D. Leinbach. “Yeah, this has been 25 years of my life. It’s very, very touching, a lot of emotions kick in.”

Mr. Leinbach and about two dozen managers and engineers with NASA and Alliant Techsystems, which builds the huge shuttle boosters near Promontory, Utah, accompanied the segments for the final 120 miles of their cross-country journey, sharing memories tinged with pride and sadness.

“Melancholy kicks in, a little bit of denial, probably,” Mr. Leinbach said as the train rolled south from Jacksonville, Fla.

He expressed concern about looming layoffs — some 7,000 shuttle jobs are being eliminated at the space center alone — and said, “The thing that makes me most angry, and maybe ‘disappointed’ is a better word than ‘angry,’ is the fact that America’s not going to be able to launch American astronauts on American rockets for many, many years.”

Mr. Leinbach was referring to the gap between the end of shuttle operations after two final flights and the debut of commercially developed rockets and capsules that are at the heart of the Obama administration’s new space policy.

While supporters of the new plan believe private-sector rockets can be ready in three or four years, many agency insiders believe that such assessments are overly optimistic and that technical problems will inevitably delay whatever comes next.

In the meantime, NASA astronauts will be forced to hitch rides on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, at more than $50 million a seat, to reach the International Space Station.

NASA is preparing the shuttle Discovery for launch in September or October to deliver supplies and spare parts to the space station. Endeavour is to go on the final mission late this year or early next to deliver a $1.5 billion physics experiment to the lab complex.

The six booster segments delivered last week, along with two that arrived earlier, will be prepared for launch with Atlantis for an emergency rescue mission were Endeavour’s crew to run into a problem preventing safe re-entry.

NASA managers and supporters in Congress are lobbying the Obama administration to launch Atlantis on a final space station resupply mission next summer if a rescue flight is not needed. By launching Atlantis with a reduced crew of four, a backup shuttle would not be needed. The astronauts could instead seek safe haven on the space station until returning aboard Soyuz spacecraft.

“I think it makes sense,” said Michael J. Massimino, a veteran astronaut. “You’ve got to weigh it against the costs. So let the cost guys figure it out. But when they do, I think they’ll see that it’s worth it for us to fly it.”