CNN logo
Navigation
 
COMMUNITY 
Message Boards 
Chat 
Feedback 

SITE SOURCES 
Contents 
Help! 
Search 
CNN Networks 

SPECIALS 
Quick News 
Almanac 
Video Vault 
News Quiz 


Pathfinder/Warner Bros


Barnes and Noble






rule

NASA to seek delay in space station launch

By CNN Correspondent John Holliman

February 27, 1998
Web posted at: 4:13 PM EST (1613 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN)-- NASA is considering a delay in the international space station program, so it can substitute another mission payload on the schedule for space shuttle flights.

After criticizing the Russians for delays in manufacturing parts of the station, NASA is expected to announce soon that it wants to haul the advanced X-ray observatory into space, probably in August, before it takes up the first U.S.-made piece of the space station.

The delay could cause more problems for NASA with Congress, which is already critical of cost overruns for the program.

The current schedule calls for the first element of the space station, a Russian-built segment called the functional cargo block, to be launched in late June. NASA would then launch on July 9 a connecting tunnel that would double the size of the budding space station.

The functional Cargo Block, the first module of the ISS.   
If the Russians approve, NASA would ask them to delay their launch of the functional cargo block until August, allowing the liftoff of the U.S. connecting tunnel in September.

Originally, the observatory was to be launched after the tunnel, but the observatory won't be ready for an August launch, unless NASA can put the tunnel on hold.

The delay, combined with massive cost overruns, has convinced some in Congress to demand a cap on U.S. spending on the space station.

The station is now more than $4 billion over budget, according to Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who has commissioned a General Accounting Office report on NASA's cost overruns on the station. He says he will introduce legislation to cap U.S. spending on the project.



rule

Related stories:

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.


Infoseek search  


rule

Watch Science & Technology Week on CNN for more sci-tech stories.

rule
Message Boards Sound off on our
message boards & chat


rule
Back to the top

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.