Mon, Aug 11, 2008
Still Aims For March 2015 Manned Flight
In a news conference Monday, NASA managers discussed how the
agency will be adjusting the budget, schedule and technical
performance milestones for its Constellation Program to ensure the
first crewed flight of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule in
March 2015.
The Constellation Program is developing the spacecraft and
systems, including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew
exploration vehicle, and the Altair lunar lander, that will take
astronauts to the International Space Station after the retirement
of the space shuttle, and eventually return humans to the moon.
"Since the program's inception, NASA has been working an
aggressive plan to achieve flight capability before our March 2015
target," said Rick Gilbrech, associate administrator for the
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "We are still confident the Constellation Program will
make its first flight to the International Space Station on or
before that date. Our new path forward better aligns our project
schedules with our existing funds to ensure we can address the
unplanned challenges that always arise when developing a complex
flight system."
NASA will retire the space shuttles in 2010 and had established
a goal of achieving flight capability for the Constellation Program
before 2015 to narrow the gap in America's human spaceflight
capability.
As part of an annual budget process that evaluates the program's
budget, schedule and technical performance milestones, NASA will be
working with its contractors to discuss how program plans and
internal milestones should be adjusted -- a process that will take
several months and require contract modifications and associated
milestone realignments. Such adjustments are not unusual for a
complex development program as work matures and schedules and
resources are aligned.
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