Although seemingly already mothballed, NASA chief administrator Michael Griffin announced late last week that NASA will launch the space shuttle Discovery as planned on July 1. It will be only the second shuttle flight since the shuttle Columbia disintegrated over north Texas on February 1, 2003 during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
As noted earlier here, Griffin proposed the shelving of the space shuttle program by 2010 even before he became NASA’s chief administrator, and the latest mission will be the first of about 15 more flights between now and that projected cut-off date. The purpose of most of those missions is to continue construction and maintenance on the International Space Station and service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Chronicle’s Eric Berger — who, by the way, is the best science blogger around — speculates here that Griffin’s patience for the space shuttle program is scant and that the upcoming Discovery mission is a “make or break” mission for the program. Consequently, if problems arise during any of the next few shuttle flights, then don’t be surprised when Griffin terminates the remaining shuttle flights and moves on. As noted earlier here, it’s time.