Less than expected

Apr 17, 2007 09:22 GMT  ·  By

NASA is happy with the fact that the repairs to the space shuttle Atlantis fuel tank are coming along well, apparently allowing for the next mission launch in June, after golf ball-sized hail fell leaving thousands of dents in the foam insulation of the fuel tank.

Today, officials also announced dates for two of next year's flights, although more shuttle missions are expected in 2008, including one to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour is scheduled to be launched on Valentine's Day in 2008 and Discovery is set to fly again on April 24, 2008.

NASA managers had hoped to squeeze five shuttle flights into 2007 at the beginning of the year, but a postponement in launching Atlantis made that impossible and created a domino-effect in launch delays for the rest of the year.

The US space fleet was made up of five ships:

Columbia, named after a sailing frigate launched in 1836. It was one of the first Navy ships to circumnavigate the globe.

Challenger, named after a Navy ship, which from 1872 to 1876 made a prolonged exploration of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Discovery, named after two ships - one in which Henry Hudson in 1610-11 attempted to search for a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and instead discovered Hudson Bay and another in which Capt. Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands and explored southern Alaska and western Canada.

Atlantis, named after a two-masted ketch operated for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute from 1930 to 1966. That sailboat traveled more than half a million miles in ocean research.

Endeavour, named after the first ship commanded by 18th century British explorer James Cook. On its maiden voyage in 1788, Cook sailed into the South Pacific and around Tahiti to observe the passage of the planet Venus between the Earth and the Sun. During another leg of the journey, Cook discovered New Zealand, surveyed Australia and navigated the Great Barrier Reef.