SPACE STATION CONTROL BOARD APPROVES NEW ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE
May 15, 1997 NASA NEWS RELEASE: 97-98
The International Space Station Control Board has approved
a new baseline schedule that keeps the assembly sequence intact
and targets the first station launch for June 1998 -- an eight-month
delay from the previous schedule.
As announced by NASA in April, the revision in the
station's assembly schedule is the direct result of funding
delays in the construction of the Service Module, the primary
Russian contribution to the early assembly of the station and a
component that will supply the early living quarters, life
support systems and propulsion. Russian-funded work on the
Service Module now has fully resumed as a result of Russian
government funding, and it is rapidly progressing.
"The recent completion of a major Russian general
designers review for the Service Module, in which I
participated, and full Russian funding of the work, gives us
high confidence that the Service Module can meet a revised
launch date of December 1998," Program Manager Randy Brinkley
said. "The Russian Space Agency has been extremely forthcoming
in its dealings with NASA on this subject, and they and their
contractors have gone out of their way to demonstrate their
resolve to meet their commitment. Based on what I saw and
heard during my most recent visit to Russia, I have every
confidence that RSA and the Russian space industry are fully
committed to meeting their obligations for the Service Module
and ISS."
Although the first station launch, the launch of the
Functional Energy Block (FGB) on a Russian Proton booster, is
delayed by eight months in the new schedule, the beginning of
full-fledged research flights to the station in August 1999 --
the end of Phase 2 of the program -- is a delay of only four
months from what previously had been planned. To enhance the
station's capabilities, modifications will be made to the FGB
to allow it to be refueled and to accommodate dockings by
Russian Soyuz capsules.
Despite delays in the Russian hardware, work has continued
on all U.S. station components, and the first U.S.-built
component, Node 1, will be delivered to the Kennedy Space
Center this summer for pre-launch testing and processing. Node
1 will be launched on Space Shuttle mission STS-88 in July 1998
to be mated to the already-orbiting FGB. Because U.S.
components such as the laboratory module, the first truss
segment and the first solar array remain on schedule, NASA will
take advantage of the extra time in assembly to pursue
integrated testing of components after they are shipped to KSC.
"A little more than a year from now, we'll launch the
first component. About a year and a half from now, we will
launch the first crew. Only two years from today, that first
crew will be finishing up the first tour onboard. Four Shuttle
assembly flights will already have been completed. And we'll
be only a few months from completing Phase 2 of the program,"
Brinkley said. "This spacecraft is on deck, and we are number
one on the runway."
Other highlights of the new schedule, called the ISS
Assembly Sequence, Rev. C, include:
* In January 1999, the second Space Shuttle assembly mission,
designated STS-92 and assembly Flight 3A, will be launched and
later followed by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying the first
crew -- ISS Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander
Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev -- to begin a
permanent human presence on the ISS.
* Two Space Shuttle flights have been added to the assembly
sequence to increase margin and add flexibility. The flights,
called flight 2A.1 in late 1998 and flight 7A.1 in late 1999,
may be used to offload cargo from adjacent assembly flights and
assist with U.S. outfitting of the station.
* At present, NASA plans to continue the conversion of a Naval
Research Laboratory stage into an Interim Control Module (ICM),
that could be used to augment the station's future propulsion
capabilities if needed by being attached to either the
Functional Cargo Block (FGB) or the Service Module.
* Assembly flight 13A, a shuttle mission that carries two
additional solar arrays, has been realigned earlier in the
assembly sequence and will provide additional power for
scientific activities and station assembly.
* Launch date options for the European Space Agency's Columbus
Orbital Facility remain under evaluation. While these options
are analyzed, the launch dates for all flights after
Utilization Flight 5 in June 2002 will remain under review;
however, the U.S. Habitat Module will be fully outfitted by
December 2002 regardless of the launch options chosen. These
launch dates are expected to be set at a Space Station Control
Board meeting in Fall 1997.
A fact sheet on the new assembly sequence, graphics, this
news release and other updated information on the International
Space Station is available on the Internet in a preview of a
new ISS web site under development at:
http://station.nasa.gov
and for the assembly sequence:
http://station.nasa.gov/station/assembly/chron.html
This site will be accessible as of 8 a.m.EDT on Thursday, May
15, 1997.
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