Squeeze play for the shuttle

摘要

Thirty-one. Count 'em-there are 31 months between now and Sept. 30, 2010. That's the White House deadline for the final mission of the space shuttle. Beyond that date, the administration allots no funds for shuttle flight operations. That September will see the end of an era. NASA says it is ready to meet the deadline. Yet an enormous amount of work remains for the shuttle. Its flight manifest has hardly advanced since last October's successful flight of STS-120, carrying the Node 2 Harmony module to the International Space Station.