Contingency planning for Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS) will add $1.2 billion to the project's cost, says the US General Accounting Office (GAO).
Delays in completing the Russian Service Module for the ISS have contributed to a two-year hold-up in the programme. In addition, NASA concedes that the Russian Service Module will not be equipped with debris shielding until 2002, at the earliest. If the module is depressurised during a serious debris strike before this, the crew would be forced to evacuate the station.
Boeing has incurred a $986 million cost overrun on its ISS work, which represents one-tenth of the total $9.8 billion NASA contract to 2004, according to the GAO.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Space Agency has delivered its Space Station Remote Manipulator System for the ISS to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its flight aboard STS100 Endeavour in July next year. The 17m (55ft)-long robot arm, to be linked to the US Destiny Laboratory Module, was built by MacDonald Dettwiler Space and Advanced Robotics.
The STS96 Discovery mission to the ISS, originally scheduled for 20 May, but delayed because of hailstone damage, will not go ahead before 27 May. Repairs had to be undertaken since, during fuelling with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, ice would form in the hailstone-pitted holes in the insulation and break away during launch, possibly causing damage to the Discovery orbiter.
• The Space Shuttle is being considered for a return to active military service after the failures of three Titan IV launches.
Source: Flight International
