spacetoday.net: NASA shifts shuttle schedule

Posted: Tue, Oct 17, 2006, 8:19 AM ET (1219 GMT)
STS-115: launch (NASA)

NASA shuttle managers met Monday to adjust the schedule for the remaining flights of the space shuttle, delaying three shuttle missions scheduled for launch in 2007 while sticking to the 2010 retirement date for the fleet. According to the revised schedule, STS-117 will be delayed from February 22 to March 16, 2007; STS-118 from June 11 to June 28; and STS-120 from August 9 to September 7. Officials said that external tank processing problems caused the delays. The next shuttle mission, STS-116, is still scheduled for launch on December 7, although that mission could be delayed several days because of a conflict with an Atlas 5 launch scheduled for the same day from Cape Canaveral. The revised shuttle manifest still calls for the last shuttle flights to take place in 2010, the date set by President Bush in 2004 for the retirement of the shuttle fleet and the completion of the assembly of the ISS.