NASA has decided it will have an orbiter on standby for a rescue mission for every Space Shuttle flight to the end of the programme in 2010.
After the 2003 Columbia accident, NASA planned for contingency Space Shuttle support missions to rescue a damaged orbiter's crew from the International Space Station (ISS), which would act as a safe haven.
Since the July 2005 Discovery/STS 114 return to flight mission, NASA has had a Shuttle undergoing pre-launch processing to prepare it to rescue a crew within 45 days of an in-orbit Shuttle emergency being declared. The agency's stated goal was to end the contingency support policy once post-Columbia Shuttle changes had been flight proven, but now NASA says: "We are planning to have a rescue mission for every flight until the end of the programme."
The policy change comes despite the success of the Discovery STS 121 mission last month and has been made because NASA has an orbiter available on standby for all future missions since Endeavour's 22-month maintenance period was completed in October last year.
No decision has been made on a rescue Shuttle for the proposed Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission STS 125 scheduled for 11 April 2008.
Source: Flight International
