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Space Shuttle launch: 5/15/05!
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Omega: [QB] New shuttles? They're all well past expected operational lifetime at this point. The remaining three can all dock at ISS, though. In fact, one of the new safety policies is that a shuttle must be externally visually inspected before landing. Since doing that without the ISS is apparently difficult, they have to go there for every mission. And since they can't get to Hubble AND ISS in the same launch, Hubble is screwed. The reason the shuttle is more expensive than originally planned is that they spend so much time checking every little thing. Wikipedia lists something like $100mil for actual launch preparations, and $400mil for inspections, per launch. Basically, at this point ISS makes the shuttle possible, and is the Shuttle's only reason for continued existence. FWIW, once the shuttle is back in operation, it should be able to take the completed European lab module to the space station. I've been wondering: if they want the space station to have a craft capable of returning six people to earth safely... why not just leave a shuttle docked there once we have a replacement? It's pretty well the only thing ever built that has that capacity, and it's not like we'll be using them any more. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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