NASA Could Delay End of Shuttle Era Into 2011

Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

The last scheduled shuttle flight would be delayed until the end of next February under a proposal being considered by NASA managers.

Endeavour would close out the 30-year space shuttle program with a mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 28, a delay of more than three months from its November launch date. The next-to-last mission by Discovery would be delayed from Sept. 16 to Oct. 29 under the proposal.

NASA needs more time to outfit the Leonardo module for installation on the station by the Discovery crew. The Italian-build module has been used on short duration missions to ferry cargo to ISS. It is being upgraded for a permanent stay in orbit.

The Endeavour mission would be delayed into next year to avoid conflicts with ISS launches scheduled by Russia, Europe and Japan in December and January.

The American space agency is still considering launching one additional shuttle to the space station next June. NASA would like to send additional parts and supplies to the facility. However, there would be no backup shuttle available for a rescue mission in the event the crew ran into trouble.