View from the bridge

The view from the flightdeck of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS80 mission shows the payload bay and the Remote Manipulator System robot arm with the Wake Shield free-flying manufacturing spacecraft attached (Flight International, 18-31 December, 1996). The STS81/Atlantis is due for a 12 January launch on the fifth Shuttle Mir Mission. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel says that NASA's efforts to streamline Shuttle operations, including the privatisation of operations under the Rockwell/Lockheed Martin United Space Alliance, have not raised risks, but it still warns of potential dangers, including reducing the workforce during Space Station assembly, and unrealistic funding levels.

Source: Flight International