Space on the roster for area pioneers

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- NASA decided Friday night to delay the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis for a second time.

"They're going to try for a 3:21 p.m. launch on Sunday," said Allard Beutel, a NASA spokesman.

After hours of discussion about fuel-gauge problems, shuttle managers determined it was too late to attempt the liftoff planned for this afternoon.

Mission personnel continue to investigate why two fuel sensors failed a test Thursday morning, hours before the originally scheduled 4:31 p.m. launch.

Although the Atlantis mission likely will be the last for Richland native Stephen Frick, the Atlantis commander, the Pittsburgh region's presence in space could be assured beyond 2020 by Emsworth native Michael Fincke.

"We haven't gotten into crew details yet -- the first missions are not scheduled to launch until the mid-teens -- but we'll be looking for the same kinds of skills (Fincke) has," said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries, talking about the Constellation program that will replace the space shuttle after its last mission in 2010.

"We hope to begin sending crews to the space station in the near term -- no later than 2015," said Humphries, who is based in Houston. "By 2020, we hope to begin sending missions to the moon."

NASA officials want to establish a lunar base that would operate like the International Space Station, Humphries said, adding that lessons learned there would provide the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars.

Lunar missions would require astronauts accustomed to long periods in space, Humphries said.

Fincke spent six months on the space station in 2004. He's preparing to live for another half-year there starting in October, when he is scheduled to command his first mission aboard a Soyuz spacecraft launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Humphries said Fincke's experience could prove valuable when NASA mission leaders evaluate potential commanders for the first lunar mission.

"He's had one great expedition on the space station," Humphries said. "He's getting ready to command another one. We'll have to wait and see."

The Constellation program, with a roughly $3.1 billion budget this fiscal year, will transport four to six crew members into space aboard a rocket that resembles those of the Apollo-mission era, Humphries said. NASA's budget is $17.3 billion this fiscal year.

Constellation astronauts will get to the moon differently than the Apollo astronauts. Instead of one rocket carrying crew and cargo, two separate rockets will do that job, Humphries said.

First, an Ares I rocket will launch the astronauts aboard their Orion spacecraft into orbit. Then, they will dock with a segment from an Ares V rocket outfitted with a lunar lander. The combined vehicle will travel from Earth orbit to the moon.

Pedro Medelius, a scientist and program manager based at Kennedy Space Center, said the first test flight for the Ares I configuration is scheduled for April 2009.

"Like the pioneers who explored America from east to west, who lived off the land, we're going to try and use resources on the moon to supply the crew or for fuel," Humphries said.

One possible fuel source is a substance called helium-3, said Alan Thirkettle, a human spaceflight manager for the European Space Agency.

"It's an enormous energy source," Thirkettle said. "If we can mine it and bring it to Earth, we could eliminate the need for fossil fuels."