spacetoday.net: Reports outlines ISS risks

Posted: Wed, Feb 28, 2007, 8:26 AM ET (1326 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The International Space Station faces a wide variety of risks, from orbital debris to rogue commands transmitted from the ground, but NASA and its partners have adequate plans to deal with most of them, a panel concluded Tuesday. The International Space Station Independent Safety Task Force released a report yesterday which identified the various risks facing the ISS. The report made a number of recommendations, including installing extra protection on the station to protect it from orbital debris, and to keep spare windows on the station in the event any are damaged. The report also warned that NASA has not budgeted enough money to purchase launch services to transport cargo and crew to and from the ISS once the shuttle is retired in 2010. NASA officials and members of Congress had no initial reaction to the report, but said they would review it.