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Copyright © 2003 International Space Station Guide

Indefinite Shuttle Grounding Changes ISS Mission Plans

Prior to the Feb. 1 loss of the STS-107 mission, shuttle Columbia and crew, Soyuz TMA 2 was planned to launch in April with a routine taxi crew which would replace the ISS's Soyuz lifeboat and return in the Soyuz TMA 1. Atlantis on STS-114 was to deliver the Expedition 7 crew and return the current Expedition 6 crew in March. STS 114 will be delayed now due to the length of the investigation and corrective actions. The ISS will continue to be supplied by the Russian Progress, and supplied by crews with the Soyuz spacecraft. It is most likely that the Soyuz TMA 2 mission will carry the next Expedition crew instead of a taxi crew, and the Expedition 6 crew will return in Soyuz TMA 1 as they have already been trained to do in case of an emergency. The only significant issue if the shuttle grounding continues into late 2003 would be sufficient resupply of the station by Progress cargo spacecraft since they currently only provide a portion of supplies including all propellant to the station while the NASA MPLM provides a significant portion. Limits in Russian funding of Progress production may be an issue which would have to be solved to increase their flight rate to continue manned operations of the ISS. At a minimum, since the Progress supplies the vast majority of propellant to keep the station in orbit, unmanned operation of the station would be assured as long as the Progress continues to operate. Since its inception in 1978 there has never been a failure a Progress supply ship.