COMMENTARY | On the eve of the last flight of the space shuttle ever, a group of men whose names define the history of the civil space program, spanning both the Apollo and shuttle eras, have published an open letter calling for the retention of the shuttle fleet.
The arguments presented by the group, which include Apollo Moonwalkers, former space shuttle pilots, and NASA flight controllers, are well presented.
"The Space Shuttle fleet is the only spacecraft, now operating or under development, that is equipped with the airlocks, life support supplies and robotic arm needed to support the required two-person spacewalking repair crews. We believe the Space Shuttle fleet should be kept in service to provide the capability of independent repair spacewalks in the event that the International Space Station is crippled by a systems failure or accident. The Space Shuttles would also be available to support one or two logistics and science missions per year, provide unmatched capacity to return components and scientific experiments to Earth (with low gravitational loads on crew and cargo during reentry) and extend the reliability of space station operations with a Service Life Extension Program.
"The capability of the Space Shuttles to provide the independent repair spacewalks, critical for restoring operations on a disabled ISS, would also be vital for protecting the ISS cargo and crew transport business of the emerging commercial space industry. Keeping the shuttle fleet in service would also comply with a new, internationally accepted flight criteria that we believe should be established: Any object placed in orbit that is too large for an uncontrolled reentry must have a spacecraft available to support independent EVA repairs."
The group recommends that the decommissioning of the space shuttles be halted to allow for a study ascertaining what it would take to allow the shuttles to keep flying. They also suggest that the last shuttle flight be delayed to allow for the construction of more spare parts, such as shuttle main fuel tanks, that would allow for a continuation of the space shuttle program. They finally suggest that cost sharing arrangements be initiated among the space station partners for such an effort.
There have been studies in the past to allow a two flight a year regime by a reduced space shuttle fleet to fill the "space launch gap" between the now scheduled end of the space shuttle program and the presumed beginning of commercial crew operations later in this decade.
Reconstituting the supply chain and support infrastructure for the space shuttles would be a daunting task. It would be a doable task, if there were money to pay for it. That is the sticking point. It would cost an enormous amount of money to continue the space shuttle program that frankly is not likely to materialize.
The original plan for the Constellation program, now canceled by the Obama administration, was to partly pay for it with the savings wrought by cancelling the shuttle program. The space flight gap at the time of the decision seemed manageable. But funding shortfalls and technical problems have expanded the gap wide enough so that the lack of a space shuttle and, indeed, the lack of any American controlled access to space has become a clear and present danger.
Unfortunately a lack of leadership from NASA and the Obama administration means that the gap is not likely to be closed; it might, in fact, widen if the commercial crew program encounters problems. Short of an unprecedented effort by the Obama administration and the Congress to deal with the problem, the gap and all of its inherent dangers will remain.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
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