NASA is retiring its shuttle fleet in two years, and for at least five years after that, no humans will launch from Florida's "Space Coast."

The U.S. space agency has named John Shannon as its new space shuttle program manager. Shannon succeeds N. Wayne Hale Jr., who becomes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's deputy associate administrator for strategic partnerships. Shannon has been Hale's deputy since November 2005.

To: SCIENCE EDITORS Contact: Katherine Trinidad of NASA Headquarters, Washington, +1- 202-358-3749, katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov; or Kyle Herring of NASA's Johnson Space Center, +1-281-483-5111, kyle.j.herring@nasa.gov HOUSTON, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA announced the selection of N.

NASA's shuttle Atlantis is on target for a Feb. 7 launch so long as a kinked radiator hose doesn't put a crimp in the agency's plans.

Wayne Hale arrived at the Kennedy Space Center runway expecting to welcome Columbia home. The NASA veteran joined a crowd of agency employees at the landing site near Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003.