NASA reports that the Space Shuttle Discovery is to be retired in 2008 and used for parts to keep the other two Shuttles flying until their retirement in 2010.
Speaking at a meeting at Kennedy Space Center, NASA shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale said the $2 billion spaceship had been scheduled to undergo a lengthy overhaul beginning in 2008 and would not have been ready to fly again until the very end of the Shuttle programme anyway.
Hale said that NASA does not expect significant job reductions as a result of the announcement. "Most of the work force, particularly at Kennedy, is going to stay on the Shuttle payroll until the day the wheels stop on the last orbiter," he says.
NASA needs to fly between 16 and 18 further missions to finish building the International Space Station. Another flight is also required to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Atlantis is still scheduled to fly five missions between July and mid-2008. Discovery and Endeavour will then be used to complete construction of the ISS.
Source: Flight Daily News
