WASHINGTON -- The space shuttle fleet, grounded after the Columbia disaster, could fly again within a year, helping to ease possible supply shortages aboard the international space station, NASA said Wednesday.
Water, food and spare parts could get scarce on the station if the three remaining shuttles fail to return to flight soon, said Michael Kostelnik, who heads the U.S. space agency's shuttle and space station programs.
"While we will be in pretty good shape (with) food and spares (spare parts) and most importantly water through the summer and fall, our margins will be very thin in the November-December time frame," Kostelnik said at a briefing.
"Do I think flying within a year is possible? Yes, I think it's possible," Kostelnik said. "Will it be likely or not? We'll have to wait and see."
While NASA waits for a final report from the independent board investigating Columbia's fatal Feb. 1 disintegration over Texas, the space station is being supplied by Russian vehicles and the three-person crew will be replaced by two persons.
Kostelnik said the launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft was on track for Saturday to carry a two-person U.S.-Russian crew to the station and ferry back the three crew members who have been aboard the orbiting outpost since Nov. 25.
Russia's robotic Progress vehicle, a sort of unmanned space delivery van, is scheduled to take supplies to the station in June, September and January, though Kostelnik said negotiations were under way to move up the January delivery.
"If we were able to return to (shuttle) flight in the January-February-March time frame, which hopefully is possible, that would take a lot of pressure off the other vehicles," Kostelnik said, referring to Soyuz and the European Space Agency's planned automated transport vehicle, which is expected to launch in September 2004.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board released preliminary recommendations last week, but has not issued a final report on the tragedy that killed all seven astronauts aboard.
Ron Dittemore, NASA's shuttle program manager who took a prominent public role in the first days after the accident, said on Wednesday he was resigning from the U.S. space agency, but would stay on to ease the transition for his successor.
"To the members of the space shuttle team and to my friends and co-workers at NASA, I respectfully announce my intent to step aside as manager (of the) space shuttle program, soon after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board findings are complete and after we are well established on a path to return to flight," Dittemore wrote.
