Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Washington D.C. - Amid lingering concerns about the shuttle's fuel tank, NASA officials have determined to launch the space shuttle Discovery as intended on July 1 for a 12-day assignment to the International Space Station. It will be just the second flight since the Columbia tragedy in 2003.
During a two-day assembly at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida the open date was decided upon. Michael Griffin, administrator of NASA, said that the assembly involved a "spirited exchange over safety issues.
Shuttle authorities gave the go-ahead on Saturday in spite of the reservations of two senior officials.
The result was announced Saturday after the agency's senior managers engaged in a lengthy Flight Readiness Review; a discussion that was labeled "spirited."
"We were really careful to evaluate everything as thoroughly as we could," said NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, who chaired the Flight Readiness Review. "But the review of the ice/frost ramp was one of the most vigorously discussed."
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