NASA sets shuttle launch with future in doubt

US: NASA managers on Wednesday settled on Feb. 7 to kick off their final year of shuttle flights, uncertain about what programs will follow.

Endeavour is targeted for launch at 4:39 a.m. EST (0939 GMT), on a 13-day mission to deliver a final connecting hub and viewing port to the International Space Station. Four more flights will follow to complete the $100 billion orbital outpost, a project of 16 nations, before year’s end.

“A lot of us have a lot of years in this program, so it’s going to be sad to see it end,” said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. “I think we have a good future. It’s not going to be the same, but it’ll be good.”

NASA has been working on a follow-on program called Constellation to return astronauts to the surface of the moon and prepare for human exploration of the solar system.

However, a top-level panel of advisers tapped by the Obama administration to review the program determined that budget cuts already have undermined the effort to the point that it no longer made sense to continue. It could be revived with a budget boost of about $3 billion a year, the panel said.

NASA currently gets about $18 billion a year, more than half of which is spent on human space flight programs.

President Barack Obama will unveil NASA’s budget request next week as part of his overall U.S. spending plan for the year beginning Oct. 1.

The White House has said most agencies’ budgets will remain flat, in an attempt to stem a federal budget deficit expected to reach $1.35 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Thursday, Reuters