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I don't know much about this subject, but find it amazing that after all the preparation there is a glitch. Almost every time there is a problem. These shuttles are old and junk and should have been thrown away long ago.
NASA delays space shuttle Endeavour's last launch - Yahoo! News
They're not really "old and junk" just large and complicated. It'll be sad to see them go.
With NASA authorization language already being drawn up behind the scenes by Congress, Augustine Commission ISS/Shuttle subgroup lead Dr Sally Ride along with several key NASA and United Space Alliance (USA) managers have embarked on a major push to extend the shuttle program, linking the move with the allowance for the International Space Station (ISS) to operate until 2020.
Shuttle Extension:
Efforts to extend the shuttle program past 2010 have been ongoing for over a year, with the main concern relating to the ever-growing gap between the last flight of the shuttle and the first operation flight of Orion via Ares I.
Currently, the shuttle is set to be retired in the middle of 2010, although due to the natural stretch in the shuttle manifest, the remaining seven flights are threatening to push the current schedule into 2011.
Problems with extending shuttle mainly relate to the need for additional funding, with the current shuttle budget forecast to be handed over to the Constellation Program (CxP) in 2010.
Orion is a spacecraft that is being designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, the space agency of the United States. Orion development began in 2005 as part of the Constellation program, where Orion would fulfill the function of a Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of four astronauts. The spacecraft was originally designed to be launched by the Ares I launch vehicle. As of 11 October 2010, with the canceling of the Constellation Program, the Ares program has ended and the Orion vehicle is now planned to be launched on top of Space Launch System, a cheaper alternative to the Ares series.
The first test flight of the Orion is planned for 2013, abort tests in 2014 and [5] and the first crewed Orion flight is anticipated in 2016.[3] It will serve as an Emergency escape capsule for the International Space Station. If commercial orbital transportation services are unavailable, Orion would handle logistic flights to the station.[6]
