TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Project must justify existence on basis of research benefit and cost, says O'keefe
New NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe plans to decide in June 2003 "whether it is prudent to continue" with construction of the International Space Station (ISS) in its present form.
O'Keefe is concerned the Station will dominate NASA activities, and is adamant that completion of the ISS will not be pursued "at the expense of everything else this organisation does".
He will decide on the future of the programme once he has studied scientific objectives and determined whether the agency has sufficiently controlled the Space Station's spiralling costs.
The issue is whether it is possible to continue to operate the ISS with just three crew, or whether a full complement of six or seven crew is required to carry out a full research programme, he says.
O'Keefe says he wants NASA to focus on technology programmes that would not be attractive to the private sector due to their level of risk and expense. The new administrator is also pushing for closer co-operation between the military and civil sectors, particularly in programmes such as the design of a Space Shuttle successor.
ISS budget and schedule problems have caused dissatisfaction among NASA's international partners in the programme. European Space Agency director general Antonio Rodota is meeting O'Keefe in April "to see what US attitudes are" concerning the ISS.
Europe, which has an 8% share in the project, is particularly concerned about the reduced crew, which is "totally unacceptable to the Europeans", says Rodota. NASA's international partners in the ISS agreed that the it should have a crew of seven, he says.
Meanwhile, the first of fourEVAs from the ISS by members of the fourth expedition crew was made on 14 January, with a 6h 3min space-walk from the Russian Piers docking compartment to finish the installation of the Russian Strela 2 crane, and to fix an amateur radio antenna to the exterior of the Station. A second EVA on 25 January will complete external outfitting of the Zvezda module.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, will conduct a $135-million Alternative Access to the Station study into an unmanned orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) to carry commercial payloads to the ISS. The OTV would carry payloads from 1.5-17t from 2006. Contracts are expected to be awarded in April, leading to selection in 2003, and a demonstration flight in 2005.ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHRISTINA MACKENZIE
Source: Flight International
