spacetoday.net: NASA may delay final shuttle missions

Posted: Wed, Jun 23, 2010, 7:17 AM ET (1117 GMT)
STS-132: launch (J. Foust)

NASA is considering rescheduling the final two planned space shuttle missions, pushing the final mission into early 2011, agency officials said Tuesday. Under the proposed plan, the launch of Discovery on STS-133 would shift from mid-September to October 29, while the late November launch of Atlantis on STS-134, the last scheduled mission, would move to February 28 of 2011. The schedule shift is caused in part by issues with an Endeavour payload, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, that caused the shuttle to slip from its original date of July; a further delay would allow NASA to optimize the payload of spare parts of other supplies delivered to the station. The delay would not require additional funding, officials said, because of additional savings found in the program. A final decision on the launch schedule is expected on July 1.