Tim Furniss / London
Assignment will see two veterans and one rookie join team that was scheduled to fly on original STS 114 mission
The STS 114 Space Shuttle return to flight mission scheduled for late 2004 or early 2005 will have three mission specialist crew members on board: veterans Wendy Lawrence and Andrew Thomas and rookie thermal protection system specialist Charles Camarda. They will join experienced astronauts commander Eileen Collins and pilot James Kelly, and mission specialists Stephen Robinson and rookie Soichi Noguchi of Japan, who were due to fly on the original STS 114 mission.
The Shuttle has been grounded since the loss of the orbiter Columbia and its seven crew members during re-entry on 1 February.
Most of the original STS 114 International Space Station (ISS) logistics mission has been retained, including a cargo delivery using a multipurpose logistics module (MPLM) and the replacement of a control moment gyro.
The mission is dedicated to return to flight testing and evaluation of new procedures for flight safety, including in-orbit inspection and repair techniques.
The MPLM will be transferred from the orbiter Atlantis using the ISS remote manipulator system (RMS), to save weight on the orbiter with the removal of the Shuttle RMS. Further logistics deliveries, a potential crew replacement and a continuation of the return to flight programme will be provided by a new Shuttle mission, STS 121/ Discovery, to be flown after STS 114.
In addition to improving Shuttle safety, NASA is stepping up exterior inspections of wiring and surfaces on the ISS and making improvements, including space debris shielding. This is part of a "top-to-bottom" review of ISS safety, which has raised concerns in five areas: an on-board defibrillator, the main solar array power distributor, an external radiator, an ammonia storage device and wiring to a robotic workstation.
Source: Flight International
