NASA Sets New Shuttle Launch Targets for 2007

NASA Sets New Shuttle Launch Targets for 2007

NASA aims to launch four space shuttle missions by the end of the year, some aboard different orbiters than originally planned, in order to continue assembly of the International Space Station (ISS), mission managers reported late Monday. The U.S. space agency released new launch targets for three ISS-bound missions in 2007 following the planned June 8 liftoff of the Atlantis shuttle’s STS-117 station assembly flight. The shuttle’s 11-day mission to deliver new solar arrays to the space station has been delayed beyond its initial March 15 target following hail damage to the orbiter’s foam-covered external tank