NASA Hopes for Best...Prepares for Worst
Mar 21, 2005 14: 40 EST
The space shuttle Discovery is set to launch in May, marking the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster in 2003. But this time, NASA is preparing a new emergency back-up plan. A four man crew will be on standby, ready to launch a rescue mission in the space shuttle Atlantis.
Dock at the International Space Station
However, this plan poses its own risks. The rescue flight would have to be performed quickly, without proper time for all the pre-flight tests and precautions.
If a problem arises on Discovery, it would have to dock at the International Space Station, swelling the population of the already claustrophobic ISS to nine people.
Temperamental ISS oxygen
The crew would have to wait there for the Atlantis rescue party, hoping that the temperamental ISS oxygen generator continues to function. Discovery would then be jettisoned to make room for Atlantis. Finally, Atlantis would return to Earth, bulging with its precious cargo of 11 astronauts.
According to the rescue team’s commander, Air Force Colonel Steven Lindsey, “It’s a place where we don’t wan to go. We’re training for a mission we never want to fly.” NASA has said that Discovery can’t lift off unless Atlantis is ready to launch the rescue mission one month later.
Image courtesy of NASA.
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