John Glenn Weighs In

Former astronaut, former U. S. Senator, and former presidential candidate John Glenn has called for extending the working life of ISS beyond 2015, as well as delaying the retirement of the space shuttle.

Glenn said that even though the shutle is old, it still works very well, and that spending the millions required to keep it flying a year or two beyond its current retirement date of 2010 would be worth it to cut the time American astronauts would be dependent on the Russian Soyuz to reach orbit.

Of course, extending the shuttle for two years would only bring us to 2012, and NASA's new Orion/Aries stack is not scheduled to fly until 2015. There would still be a substantial gap, even with Glenn's approach. Bringing the new vehicle forward a bit might be possuble, but that, too, would cost extra money. The simple fact is that the maneuverings of Congress, coupled with a White House focused on other matters, has put the American manned space effort in something of a pickle.