STS-122 Delayed Until 2008

NASA again delayed the launch of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-122 mission. The next attempt wull not be made until January.

Launch delays have been common throughour the shuttle program. Part of that has been due to the fickle Florida weather, but most involved the complexity of the shuttle system. NASA is proud to say the shuttle is the most complex vehicle ever flown, but that has a downside. The failure of the shuttle to deliver the reliability originally promised has fueled the push to develop a space vehivle that can take off from a runway, land on a runway, and be maintained and serviced like an airplane.

Such a vehicle is the Holy Grail of those who want to open the space frontier. A vehicle with that capability, however, would likely be even more complex than the shuttle system.