Cape Canaveral, July 29: The United States needs to boost Nasa’s budget by $1.5bn to fly the last seven shuttle missions and should extend International Space Station operations through 2020, a presidential panel reviewing the US human space programme said on Tuesday.
The 10-member board also proposed adding an extra, eighth shuttle flight to help keep the station supplied and narrow an expected five- to seven-year gap between the time the shuttle fleet is retired and a new US spaceship is ready to fly.
A third option would keep the shuttle flying through 2014 as part of a plan to develop a new launch system based on existing shuttle rockets and components.
At the very least, Nasa’s budget – $18bn in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009 – should reflect the reality that it is highly unlikely to complete seven remaining shuttle missions by September 30, 2010, as planned, the board said.
“We have come to believe very firmly that it’s important to have a realistic view of what the existing program as it will realistically unfold most likely will cost and not put any smoke and mirrors to the budget to make it look like it will fit under the budget profile,” Sally Ride, a committee member and former astronaut, told her colleagues during a public meeting in Houston televised by Nasa.
—Agencies