spacetoday.net: Grounded shuttle increasing ISS cost

Posted: Wed, Oct 15, 2003, 4:48 PM ET (2048 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The extended grounding of the space shuttle has resulted in increased costs to assemble and maintain the International Space Station, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report released Tuesday. The report found that delays caused by the shuttle standdown have incurred a number of unforeseen costs, ranging from repacking a solar array to replacing components that have reached the end of their storage life. The GAO report did not attempt to estimate the exact cost caused by the delays. Part of the reason why the report didn't estimate the cost of the delays is the uncertainty when the shuttle will return to service. Although NASA had hoped to have the shuttle flying again by early 2004, the agency recently said it now plans to have the next shuttle flight no earlier than September 2004.