NASA administrator Mike Griffin says Space Shuttle Discovery will be launched on 13 July, despite the agency not meeting all the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s (CAIB) 15 safety recommendations.
Griffin says the Discovery/STS114 flight will take place at the start of the 13-30 July launch window to the International Space Station.
The independent Return To Flight Task Group has concluded that NASA has not met the CAIB recommendations of hardening the thermal protection system (TPS), stopping external tank ice and foam shedding or providing an in-flight TPS repair capability. But the group says the Shuttle is safer and could fly.
Griffin admitted at a Space Transportation Association meeting in Washington that an in-orbit repair capability was not possible. But announcing the launch date, he said: “I assess from the technical review over the past weeks and months that the causes of the loss of Columbia have been addressed.”
During testimony to the US House of Representatives committee on science, Griffin said he was confident of a 13 July launch as “we have several slack days” to overcome on-pad problems.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY GRAHAM WARWICK AND TIM FURNISS
Source: Flight International
