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Space Shuttle Endeavor Awaits as Possible Rescue Shuttle

On October 10th 2008, the Space Shuttle Atlantis is due to launch for a final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. On this mission, the astronauts will make necessary repairs and upgrades to the 18 year old station, in order to get 7 or so more years of life from the invaluable telescope.

What makes this flight interesting, is that since the Columbia disaster, this is the first Shuttle flight where the destination is not the International Space Station (ISS). After Columbia, one of the main tasks of all flights is to look for Shuttle damage while it’s docked at the ISS. If there is sufficient damage to the Shuttle, they could abandon the Shuttle and leave it at the ISS, the crew returning to Earth in one of the Russian cargo modules.

With this Hubble mission, the astronauts will have no ability to get to the ISS due to the differences in the orbits of the ISS and the Hubble. If there is sufficient damage to Atlantis whereby it would present a problem upon re-entry, NASA is taking the unprecidented step of reading the Shuttle Endeavor for a “rescue” mission to the Atlantis. Here, the Endeavor would launch with a skeleton crew of 4, and would be “docked” with Atlantis at the Hubble, transferring the 7 Atlantis crew members to the Endeavor. Endeavor would transport everyone home, and Atlantis would be allowed to disintegrate into the Earth’s atmosphere. Leaving only Endeavor and Discovery as workable Shuttles, this would effectively end the Shuttle program 2 years early, as they are scheduled to be retired in 2010.

This marks the first time since 2001 that two Shuttles were ready on their respective launch pads.

Clearly, the need to send Shuttles to the ISS after 2010 is needed. Given the current political climate between the US and Russia, leaving all missions for the ISS to the Russians – for people and cargo – is something that I don’t think should be tolerated. While we have had some problems with the Shuttle over the last 20 years, we appear to be in a time of “high confidence” and safety measures with the Shuttle program. Dozens of cameras capture all angles of a Shuttle launch, and all efforts are made while in orbit to view any possible damage either in real time via space-walks, or via recorded footage from launch. I see no reason why there should be a rush to retire the [aging] Shuttle program.

Apparently, NASA administrator Griffin feels the same. Let’s hope that there is a way to keep the Shuttle program active – even on a limited basis – until the ISS and the next future vehicle by NASA is completed. I don’t think it’s appropriate to rely on the Russians given the current political climate.

Click here, for some rare photos from the upcoming Atlantis launch:

And in a slightly related story, here are some photos and information about the Russian Space Shuttle, called the “Buran” which was disbanded in 2003 or so.

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Russia vs. Georgia – What Are Our Options?

There are no “ifs”, “ands” or “buts” about it. Russia invaded a neighboring state, who is a democratically-elected government. They’re currently occupying it, and even as a cease-fire has been signed, there are conflicting reports of exactly how far the Ruissians have removed themsleves from Georgian territory, and how far they plan to go. From some reports, it appears that they will be staying in Ossetia in similar fashion how the US is staying in Iraq. This is unacceptible.

I am not a fan of the current United States administration, but comparing our invasion of Iraq to Russian’s invasion of Georgia is not an accurate similarity.

So, what is there to do? As Defense Secretary Gates said recently, the United States has worked hard for 45 years is ensure that there is no military confrontation between the United States and Russia [the USSR]. In our best efforts, we should continue to keep this a valid line of reasoning. However, the USSR is no more. Georgia, a former Soviet republic, is now fighting a former republic for independence. The United States promotes democracy, and always steps in when efforts of democracy are being extinguished, so let’s hope the that the US has a better response to Russia than they have had so far.

Militarily speaking, there isn’t much that the US can do without endangering the lives of millions of people and setting the word back to 1984. However, combined with European backing and various NATO alliances, there are several moves that can be made to pressure Russia to remove itself from Georgian territory, which include, but are not limited to:

  • suspending NATO military excercises with Russia
  • boycott the 2014 Olympic games in Russia
  • Dissolve the G-8, and the instantly reform the G-7 without Russia

I read these fine suggestions in an Op-Ed piece from a journalist from the Washington Post, and at the current time, I can’t find the original article.

Something needs to be done. The US was asleep at the wheel watching the Olympics for the first week. We’re now in the third week—let’s all hope this works out. If not, looks like it’s time to break out the Cold War history books.