NASA chief says shuttle schedule impossible to meet

Dr. Michael D. Griffin, the new administrator of NASA, said Thursday that there was no way the space shuttle fleet would be able to complete the 28 flights now planned before its retirement in 2010...

While the space agency is still studying how many missions the shuttles can undertake once they resume flight, as early as next month, Griffin said there could be as few as 15 and no more than 23, because of the time it takes to process and fly missions.

"I'll be very strong on this," he said in an interview. "We know that we cannot execute 28 flights between now and shuttle retirement."

I know he says that Shuttle won't continue past 2010, and I know that the Administration's policy in this regard hasn't (publicly) changed. But, I am still waiting for the announcement that, yes, Shuttle will indeed fly through 2011, 2012, whatever.

Posted by T.L. James on June 17, 2005 11:47 PM