NASA reveals next generation of shuttle design

For its next generation of space shuttles, NASA has decided to abandon the futuristic design principles that went into the current model and rearrange the shuttle`s parts into a safer, stronger, more powerful family of traditional rockets, space agency officials and private experts say.

The plan features two rockets that would separate the jobs of hauling people and cargo into orbit, and follow the customary approach of putting the payloads on top - as far as possible from the dangers of firing engines and falling debris. By making the rockets from shuttle parts, the new plan would draw on the shuttle`s existing network of thousands of contractors and technologies, in theory speeding its completion and reducing its price.

While public mention of the plan might seem like a ploy to take attention from NASA`s current troubles, it actually began in late April when new NASA administrator Michael Griffin, in office for just days, quietly enlisted teams of federal and private aerospace experts to visualize the post-shuttle era. The plan is to be unveiled later this month.

                                 

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