News Archive

Friday, March 14, 2003 Shuttle to Fly by Fall NASA plans to return the space shuttle to orbit by fall and has instructed engineers to be prepared to make any "corrective actions" recommended by the board investigating the Columbia tragedy. The return-to-flight team is to review ways to inspect and repair damaged tiles while the shuttle orbits. Other issues to be studied are how the spacecraft is prepared, the policies on granting safety waivers and the methods used to identify in-flight safety problems and how those issues are relayed to NASA Brass. The three astronauts aboard the ISS will return to Earth next month on a Russian Soyuz vehicle. @ 16:09 EST