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Shuttle News

GriffinSpeak 101: "Keep Flying" Vs "Extend Flying"

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 5, 2008

NASA may extend shuttle use to 2015, Houston Chronicle

“Q: You recently asked for a study looking at how to extend the shuttle program. Why?

A: First, let me correct your assumption. I am not looking to extend flying the shuttle. I am looking at what it would take if we were asked to keep flying to support the space station. … About five minutes after I heard the news of the Russian invasion of Georgia, I became concerned that our policy of depending upon them for crew transport might be in jeopardy.”

Editor’s note: This answer from Mike Griffin really confuses me. If Griffin says “I am not looking to extend flying the space shuttle” and then says “I am looking at what it would take if we were asked to keep flying to support the space station.”

How is “keep flying” not the same as “extend flying”? And either way, doesn’t this require shuttle flights after 2010 – i.e. to “extend” its operations past the White House direction that flights stop in 2010? Also, the cost of maintaining the standing army (workforce) needed for 1 or 2 or 3 – or 4 shuttle flights is not that different. But it does mean billions of dollars that will need to be spent – billions NASA does not have in its budget if it is also going to be expected to fix/build Ares and Orion. Either way the distinction between these two phrases is all but moot.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.