The US space agency has given a green light for the resumption of space shuttle flights in May 2005, more than two years after seven astronauts died in the mid-air disintegration of space shuttle Columbia.
Nasa's Space Flight Leadership Council on Friday endorsed a recommendation from the agency's space shuttle program to launch a "Return to Flight" mission sometime between May 12 and June 3 next year, a Nasa statement announced.
The agency's earlier plan to resume flight in March was scuttled by a string of hurricanes that impacted operations at Nasa facilities in the south-eastern US states.
"After four hurricanes in a row impacted our centres and our workers, it became clear we needed to step back and evaluate the work in respect to the launch planning date," William Readdy, co-chair of the Nasa council, was quoted as saying in the statement.
"We asked the program to go back and evaluate May, and they reported the milestones are lining up. The May launch planning window is based on solid analysis and input from across all elements of the program," he said.
Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne closed down Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for about nine days and damaged several facilities, and Hurricane Ivan caused shorter closures at several other facilities, said William Readdy, Nasa's associate administrator for space operations.
Nasa mothballed its shuttle program after the Columbia tragedy and has since been working to modify the remaining three shuttles to avoid a recurrence.
Columbia disintegrated on re-entry on February 1, 2003. The investigating commission blamed the disaster on damage to the shuttle's heat shield caused by the impact of ice chunks breaking off an auxiliary fuel tank during takeoff.
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