Four-Astronaut Crew Selected for Potential Shuttle Flight

Even though nothing has been decided yet, NASA has already announced the selection of four astronauts for a potential flight to the ISS using the shuttle beyond February 2011.

At this point, Endeavor is scheduled to make the last trip to the International Space Station (ISS), where it's bound to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a dark matter detection experiment.

But its flight was originally planned for July 2010. Various delays in the AMS assembly and delivery schedule have however made the task impossible.

The entire launch schedule was shifted around, and Discovery was planned for take-off in November, whereas Endeavor was programmed for February.

These are currently the last two approved shuttle missions ever, but numerous voices have called for an additional flight to take place on Atlantis.

If approved, the new mission will be designated STS-135, and will take place next June. Congress is still in doubt whether to allow for this flight to take place or not.

When and if Congress gives its seal of approval, the mission will be commanded by retired US Navy captain and veteran astronaut Chris Ferguson. He already has two shuttle flights under his belt.

Fulfilling pilot duties will be astronaut Doug Hurley, a US Marine Colonel. Acting as mission specialists will be astronauts Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, who is also a retired US Air Force Col.

The reason why a shuttle mission is being considered, other than ensuring jobs for thousands across the United States, is that huge spare parts still need to be carried to the ISS.

The parts, alongside some scientific experiments, are so large that only the American spacecraft can deliver them to low-Earth orbit.

The Russian-built Soyuz and Progress capsules, the European ATV and the Japanese HTV are simply too small to fit various truss rod segments, solar panels, and other large-scale components of the ISS.

“These [four] astronauts will begin training immediately as a rescue crew as well as in the baseline requirements that would be needed to fly an additional shuttle flight,” explains Bill Gerstenmaier.

The NASA official is an associate administrator for the space agency's Space Operations Mission Directorate, Space reports.

“The normal training template for a shuttle crew is about one year prior to launch, so we need to begin training now in order to maintain the flexibility of flying a rescue mission if needed, or alter course and fly an additional shuttle mission if that decision is made,” he adds in th same statement.