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U.S. Shuttle Launch Window Set for May

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration this week confirmed that this coming May will be a launch window for the next launch of the space shuttle Discovery. Even so, issues with pieces of fallen foam that caused the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003 were still unresolved with the launch of Discovery last year and NASA officials are unsure as to how this will affect any launch this May.

"An aggressive schedule can lead to a launch before the launch window closes in May," said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday afternoon. "I remain optimistic. There is a lot of work to be done. We won`t proceed until we do the work we need to do to prove it`s safe to fly. Just to make it perfectly clear to you, foam will still come off the tank after we have done all these mitigation efforts."

The loss of the Columbia took place 17 years after the Challenger broke up 78 seconds after its launch on January 28, 1986. While that accident had to due with faulty "o-rings" on a solid rocket booster, Columbia and her seven astronauts - including Israel`s first astronaut - was felled by hot gases which weakened the infrastructure of the craft upon re-entry which were permitted to enter thanks to a small hole created by a fallen piece of foam from the external fuel tank.