NASA might disappoint President Bush with slow progress

NASA might disappoint President Bush with slow progress

President Bush has big plans for United States when it comes to space exploration. And one of the plans was to complete the highly awaited completion of the International Space Station. The guideline put forward by the president expects NASA to finish off the construction of the International Space Station by 2010. However, the way things are moving… it would be quite complicated for NASA to achieve that.

As per the plans of the American space agency, it would take around 15 trips to the ISS by its space shuttle which including the currently on Discovery mission. However, the problems NASA is facing with the safety of the shuttle has put big doubts on whether NASA would be able to make as many flights to space with this aging space craft or not. The agency is still working on finding out whether Space Shuttle Discovery is fit to return to earth or not.

In addition, the Space Shuttle fleet is also due to expire by the time President want the International space station to be complete. After that, NASA would be left with no vehicles and would have to find ways to expand the life cycle of these crafts. The agency is only due to get its next spacecrafts ready by around 2015. The gap between 2010 and 2015 could prove to be quite expensive for them.

International Space Station still requires the installation of 22 solar panels and seven living and working areas for the crew to get somewhere near completion.