NASA Announces Final Space Shuttle Flight Schedule

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:01:59 +0000
Matthew Borghese - AHN Editor

Cape Canaveral, FL (AHN) - NASA has announced the launch schedule for its space shuttle fleet, which the agency hopes to retire once construction is complete on the International Space Station (ISS).

Shuttle missions will run until 2010, and will also include trips to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The schedule "reflects the agency's commitment to complete assembly of the station and to retire the shuttle fleet as transition continues to the new launch vehicles, including Ares and Orion," NASA explained.

NASA has five flights planned for 2009:

STS-119 (February 12) - Discovery will deliver the final pair of U.S. solar arrays to the ISS.

STS-127 (May 15) - Endeavour will deliver more components for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Kibo laboratory aboard the ISS.

STS-128 (July 30) - Atlantis will deliver "science and storage racks" to the ISS, as well as other equipment for the station.

STS-129 (October 15) - Discovery will bring "spare components" to the ISS while astronauts complete more spacewalks.

STS-130 (December 10) - Endeavour will bring a connecting node to the ISS, as well as more equipment.

NASA will also conduct as many as three space shuttle flights in 2010.

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