INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PARTNERS ADJUST TARGET DATES FOR FIRST LAUNCHES, REVISE OTHER STATION ASSEMBLY LAUNCHES



June 1, 1998



Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1979)



James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)



Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, FL
(Phone: 407/867-2468)

<h4>Release: H98-93</h4> <h3>International Space Station Partners 
Adjust Target Dates for First Launches, Revise Other Station Assembly 
Launches</h3> 

Representatives of all nations involved in the International Space 
Station have agreed to officially target a November 1998 launch for 
the first station component and to revise launch target dates for the 
remainder of the 43-flight station assembly plan.



In meetings of the Space Station Control Board and the Heads-of-Agency 
on May 30 and 31 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, all station 
partners agreed to target launch dates of Nov. 20, 1998, for the 
Control Module today named Zarya (Russian word for sunrise) and Dec. 
3, 1998, for Shuttle mission STS-88 with Unity. Changes in the 
construction schedule for the third station component, the 
Russian-provided Service Module, led the partners to reschedule the 
first assembly launches. The Service Module will house the first 
station occupants and the European Space Agency-provided Data 
Management System.



Although the new dates move the launch of the first station component, 
Zarya, from June to November, the target dates agreed upon for many 
major station milestones during the latter portions of the five-year 
assembly plan are little changed. In addition, several enhancements 
to the station's assembly have been made, including an exterior 
"warehouse" for spare parts and a Brazilian-provided carrier for 
exterior station components that are launched aboard the Space 
Shuttle.



The International Space Station partners set an April 1999 target 
launch date for the Russian Service Module. The first station crew -- 
Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight 
Engineer Sergei Krikalev -- will be launched aboard a Russian Soyuz 
spacecraft in summer 1999 to begin a five-month inaugural stay. 
Launch of the U.S. laboratory module is set for October 1999. 
Launches of other laboratory modules provided by Europe, Japan and 
Russia, will take place later in the assembly sequence. The 
Canadian-provided station robotic arm, or Space Station Remote 
Manipulator System, will be launched in December 1999. Scientific 
research will commence aboard the station early in the year 2000.



The expansion from a three-person crew to a six-person capability is 
planned in November 2002. The final launch in the assembly sequence 
is set for January 2004, only one month later than in the previous 
assembly plan. Some issues in this assembly sequence remain under 
review and will be resolved at a Space Station Control Board meeting 
in September.



NASA continues the development of an Interim Control Module (ICM) as a 
contingency against further delays in the Service Module and as a 
potential additional propellant capability for a more robust space 
station. A decision concerning the configuration of the ICM will be 
made later this year.



During the Heads-of-Agency meeting, the Russian Space Agency (RSA) 
stated that the Russian government has made the International Space 
Station its number one civil space priority. RSA noted that progress 
on the Service Module continues to meet a launch in April 1999. RSA 
also is working to deorbit Mir as early as safely possible, with a 
goal of developing a potential to deorbit by July 1999. The 
international partners expressed their concern with delays to the 
International Space Station program to date and brought to the 
attention of RSA that it is critical to all participating nations 
that the station program schedule is met.



The agencies' leaders also acknowledged the atmosphere of cooperation, 
the accomplishments and the successful achievements of the 
Shuttle-Mir Program (Phase I) and look forward to the smooth 
transition to Phases 2 and 3 of the International Space Station. In 
addition, they highlighted the ongoing International Space Station 
training currently under way for the first four station crews.



Full details of the current International Space Station Assembly 
Sequence, Revision D, are available in a NASA fact sheet. The fact 
sheet may be obtained from the internet at the International Space 
Station Web:



http://station.nasa.gov.

	
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