Shuttle Disaster Clouds Future of Space Station

As American and Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were still reeling under word seven of the comrades had been killed aboard the shuttle Columbia, an unmanned supply ship launched Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Progress spaceship carries about three tons of food, water, oxygen and fuel.

The Progress M-47 lifted off atop a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:59 p.m. and entered orbit a few minutes later, said Nikolai Kryuchkov, a spokesman at Russia's mission control center outside Moscow said in an official statement.

The Progress cargo booster is carrying about three tonnes of water, food, oxygen and fuel. It's expected to dock with the ISS Tuesday morning. The remaining three American shuttles, however, are grounded until NASA is sure they won't suffer the same fate as Columbia.

A Long Talk With Cabana

Americans Ken Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian Nikolai Budarin spoke at length Sunday with NASA Flight Crew Operations Chief Bob Cabana (right). At a news conference afterwards, Cabana said Bowersox and Pettit were heartbroken at the loss of Columbia and its crew. "We still have a crew in orbit now," he reminded reporters. "They deserve our full attention. They're being kept fully informed," Cabana said. "They're grieving.

"They're also feeling kind of isolated," Cabana continued. "It's hard for them to be so ar away."

There Is A Way Home

Even with the American shuttle fleet grounded, the three astronauts aboard the ISS can board a Russian escape vehicle docked at the orbiting station, which is in position -- complete with customized re-entry suits for the crew -- for just this kind of contingency. The three space station crewmembers have been circling 240 miles above the planet for the past 69 days. NASA officials say, with regular resupply missions from unmanned Russian ships, the crew will be fine until at least the latter part of June.

But the loss of the Columbia clearly jeopardizes the ongoing construction and maintenance of the 2-year-old International Space Station, which can be serviced only by both Russian and American spacecraft.

The Russian Interfax news agency quoted some Russian space experts who said the disaster raises the possibility of mothballing the International Space Station until the source of the accident is found and corrected.

"This is a big tragedy for us," said Vladimir Solovyov, head of Russia's mission control center. "We knew every member of the Columbia crew personally except for the Israeli astronaut."

Cosmonaut Yuri Usachev, who commanded the space station's second crew in 2001, said he and his colleagues were feeling the tragedy as a "personal loss."

"I believe yesterday's tragedy will have a big influence on the future of the international space station," he told TVS television. "Probably for a certain amount of time the accent will shift to Russian systems of delivery of cargo and crews."

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.spaceflight.nasa.gov