Nov 13 2002
From The Space Library
President George W. Bush released details of NASA's new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) in an amendment to his budget request for FY 2003. The ISTP included a number of changes in NASA's spaceflight programs that, together, would encompass a comprehensive effort to coordinate NASA's investments in the ISS, the Space Shuttle program, and the replacement vehicle for the Shuttle. The new plan would provide more resources for completing the assembly of the ISS, as well as an increase in the number of annual Shuttle flights to the ISS. Shuttle flights to the ISS would increase from four to five flights annually, enabling transport of more researchers and more science-based payloads. Moreover, the ISTP would restructure the Space Launch Initiative (SLI), making the program's immediate objective the development of the Orbital Space Plane (OSP), rather than development of a replacement vehicle for the Space Shuttle. The OSP, which would be smaller than the Shuttle, would function as both the crew transport vehicle and the emergency escape vehicle for the ISS, and NASA would use the Shuttles for heavy cargo delivery. NASA stressed that, although the ISTP would change NASA's five-year budget plan, the program's costs would remain within the original FY 2003 budget. (NASA, “NASA's Integrated Space Transportation Plan Released,” news release 02-220, 13 November 2002; Warren E. Leary, “NASA To Delay Decision on Shuttle Replacement,” New York Times, 14 November 2002.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
