Busy Year for the Shuttle.

[Boomerang]

Below ive pasted an Article from Space.com about the upcoming year in shuttle flights. Looks like it will be a big year. 6 planned flights 1 science mission coming up later this month and 5 ISS missions. Also this year will mark the return of the Teacher in Space Program in November when Barbra Morgan Christa Mcaulifes back up will fly on Columbia as a Mission Specialist. She will carry out some of the planned work that Christa Mcaullife would have done on Challenger in 1986 by teaching lessons from space. Thats something to definately look forward to. You'll find the article below.NASA Faces Challenging Year for Space Station Construction
By Kelly Young
FLORIDA TODAY
posted: 10:30 am ET
02 January 2003




CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In 2003, the International Space Station is set to lengthen its wingspan almost threefold. Meanwhile, NASA and the international partners may decide what the station will look like when it's finally finished.

This year will see as many as six shuttle flights from Kennedy Space Center. The first one is set to begin in about two weeks as Columbia embarks upon a science mission.

The rest of the shuttle flights this year will soar to the International Space Station.

"The year ahead will be the most complex so far in the history of the International Space Station and its construction in orbit," International Space Station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier said. "The station literally becomes a new spacecraft with each assembly mission, and that will be true next year with dramatic changes in the operations of its cooling and power systems as well as in its appearance."

During the next 12 months, shuttles will add large spans of power-producing solar arrays to the station.

By early 2004, the station will have most of its domestic parts. International lab modules are scheduled to be added later. The shuttles will carry up to 80,000 pounds of supplies, parts and experiments. And astronauts will conduct a record 24 spacewalks this year.

By the end of 2003, the station's expanding truss that supports the solar arrays and houses cooling mechanisms will grow from 134 feet to 310 feet (41 meters to 95 meters).

The year's first shuttle flight will send up the first Israeli, Ilan Ramon, into space. The seven people on board will work two shifts a day for 16 days to complete a science research mission.

"The reason we do some experiments on the shuttle and some experiments on International Space Station is partly due to the duration of the mission," Columbia commander Rick Husband said.

"In our case, being a 16-day mission, there are some experiments that can be designed for shorter duration so that they can send these up, they can get the results back, they can do some analysis, and then they can turn around and try to go fly again. On the space station, they may have some experiments that are designed for a longer duration, to take a look at a process over a longer period of time than what you can achieve on the shuttle," Husband said.

Columbia initially was slated to fly in 2002, but cracks in the shuttle fleet's fuel liners forced NASA to juggle its shuttle launch lineup late in the year. Station missions took priority over the science flight.

In addition to Ramon, another V.I.P. is scheduled to launch later this year. Former Idaho teacher Barbara Morgan will lift off on shuttle Columbia in November. She will serve as a mission specialist astronaut on another construction mission to the space station.

Morgan also plans to conduct classroom lessons from space. This continues NASA's educator in space program, which was cut short in 1986 when the shuttle Challenger exploded, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and her six crewmates.

Russia will also launch its two Soyuz escape vehicles to the station. These are the spacecraft that have carried two paying space tourists, Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, to the space station. So far, no tourists have been announced for the April and October 2003 flights.

Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2003 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.

[Benji]

These plans were disrupted.

[Boomerang]

unfortunately your right. And at this point there is no telling when we will fly again.