NASA wants space plane to start flying 2 years early | Orlando Sentinal

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NASA wants space plane to start flying 2 years early

By Gwyneth K. Shaw | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 30, 2003

WASHINGTON -- NASA has formally notified the three contractors working on the orbital space plane project that the agency wants the companies to push toward a new deadline of 2008.

When the project was first proposed late last year, the plan was to have a vehicle capable of serving as an emergency return option for the crew of the international space station by 2010. That schedule called for the craft to be ready to ferry astronauts to and from the station two years later, complementing but not replacing the space shuttle.

But the Feb. 1 loss of the shuttle Columbia -- and the ensuing attention given to questions about the shuttle's long-term safety -- made accelerating the project a priority. Almost immediately after the accident, National Aeronautics and Space Administration chief Sean O'Keefe said he'd challenged his program managers to get the spacecraft built as quickly as possible.

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