Nasa Official: Moon Capsule Not Likely to Be Ready By 2013
Money problems will likely force NASA to abandon its ambitious internal goal of having a new moon spaceship ready by 2013, a top space agency official said Wednesday.
The agency should still be able to meet its public commitment to test-launch astronauts in the first Orion capsule by March 2015, the official said, unless national budget stalemates continue.
However, the agency’s own hurry-up plan to get the job done even earlier – with a first crew launch by 2013 – will "very likely" be changed during meetings this week in Houston, said Doug Cooke, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration.
An actual astronaut moon landing is still set for 2020.
Cooke acknowledged the slipped launch target date during an interview about an internal NASA report leaked to the Web site, Nasa Watch. The document shows that the space agency’s overall moon plan has encountered financial and technical problems, which NASA says it can overcome.
The 117-page report, posted Wednesday at nasawatch.com, shows an $80 million cost overrun this year for just one motor and a dozen different technical problems that the space agency put in the top risk zone, meaning the problems are considered severe. The report put the program’s financial performance in that category.
Technical problems included software that might not be developed on time, a dangerous level of shaking during launch, and a hard-to- open hatch door.
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