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| Monday / 6 March 2006 | ||
ISS Partners
Endorse New Station Configuration, Assembly Sequence, 6-Person
Crew in 2009.
Station agency heads reaffirm their
commitment to
meet mutual obligations and complete the assembly of the orbiting
outpost by 2010 using just 16 flights. The delivery of ESA's Columbus
laboratory and the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) will be bumped
up by several months or more. Other key space elements
to be launched include three additional power trusses, the US Node
2, Canada's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, and Russia's
Multipurpose Laboratory Module.
Also at last week's summit, the partners affirmed plans to use a
combination of transportation systems provided by Europe, Japan,
Russia, and the US to finish ISS. The STS-121 Discovery mission
in May will return to station assembly activity and enable a permanent
crew of three. At
a NASA JSC press conference held Friday, ISS Program Manager Mike
Suffredini said he expects to sign an agreement with his Russia counterparts
by the end of the year determining the number of Soyuz and Shuttle
missions needed to rotate 6-person crews every 6 months starting
in April 2009. Russia will probably continue to take up to the station
paying space tourists at least until that time. After completion,
station leaders hope the facility will be operational for at least
10 years. However, a US module that will supply electricity to the
station is only guaranteed up to 2015.
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