spacetoday.net: NASA planning to fly shuttle up to 20 more years

Posted: Wed, Mar 26, 2003, 7:57 AM ET (1257 GMT)
STS-107: launch (NASA/KSC)

NASA officials said this week planning is underway to keep the space shuttle flying, in one fashion or another, for up to 20 more years. Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the ISS and space shuttle, reported monday on a conference held last week about NASA's Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). The purpose of SLEP is to identify the steps required to extend the life of the shuttle into the next decade, and perhaps to 2020 and beyond. Kostelnik said that NASA's Space Flight Leadership Council (SFLC) identified 60 candidate projects for further consideration; those projects will be considered during NASA's fiscal year 2005 budget planning this summer, with the agency's long-term strategy to be further refined at another conference next summer. Kostelnik said it might be possible in the future, once the ISS is completed and an Orbital Space Plane is in use next decade, to fly shuttles with reduced crews, or possibly with no crews at all.