Hurricane Delays Push Shuttle Launch to May

NASA said Friday it is aiming for a mid-May launch of the first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy almost two years ago.

Until this month, NASA had hoped to resume shuttle flights as early as March, with Discovery making a space station supply run and a test flight for new inspection and repair techniques. But four Florida hurricanes in quick succession damaged the space agency’s buildings and hindered launch preparations.

NASA spaceflight chief Bill Readdy conceded that technical challenges and “some unknowns” could thwart a mid-May launch, in particular the need to prevent any dangerous pieces of foam from coming off the fuel tank during liftoff.

“We’re as confident as we can be in establishing that target date,” Readdy said. “Right now, it looks as though the milestones we have remaining, they’re all things that we can accomplish between now and May.”

Columbia was brought down in February 2003 by a chunk of insulating foam that broke off the external fuel tank during liftoff and slammed into the left wing. The three remaining shuttles have been grounded ever since.

Considerable work remains on many of the technical improvements urged by the Columbia accident investigators.

Readdy said “first and foremost” is the redesign of the external fuel tanks. All the work on Discovery’s tank should be completed in time for a delivery to the Kennedy Space Center by year’s end, a crucial step in meeting a May liftoff, he noted.