NASA has admitted that the launch of the first components of the International Space Station (ISS) in June and July have been delayed until August and September.
The space agency will ask Russia to delay the Proton launch of the Control Module. This had been planned for 30 June from Baikonur, but will be put back to August following NASA's decision to delay the US launches.
The first Space Shuttle ISS mission, the STS88/Endeavour, set for a launch on 9 July with the Node 1 and other equipment, is now scheduled for 17 September. Later ISS lift-offs will be delayed.
A new schedule will help to smooth out the 1998 Shuttle launch manifest, enabling it to fit in with the new December launch date of the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility. This had been delayed from August, to accommodate a possible delay of one month to the lift-off of the US Laboratory Module, which had been scheduled for May 1999.
NASA says that the "next 60 days" are critical in determining launch readiness of the Module.
Three cosmonauts, including a Frenchman, returned to Earth from the Mir space station aboard the Soyuz TM26 on 19 February. The TM26 crew, led by Anatoli Solovyov, were largely responsible for initial repairs to the Mir after the collision of a tanker in June.
Source: Flight International
