NASA: Shuttle mission to space station in December (moved from ATSNN), page 1

NASA has confirmed last Wednesday (with regards to the ISS) that later this year with consequent test launches, assembly on the orbital space complex will continue, expected to begin in December.

www.cnn.com
Meeting in Montreal, the heads of the five space agencies building the station: United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, said they were confident the station's assembly would be completed by the end of the decade despite the more than two-year shutdown of shuttle activity due to since the February 1, 2003, Columbia accident.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said modifying the remaining shuttle fleet has already cost NASA about $1.5 billion.

Europe and Japan are still awaiting launches for their respective main space station laboratories, a job for which the shuttle is needed.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I personally would love to see more attention paid to co-working with other nations towards a common goal, such as the completion of the international space station, by the US and Europe in general. I'm sure if Bush digs deep enough into his military coffers he will be able to shell out enough for this monumental collaboration. Whats 1.5 billion, to a nation which has spent almost that much DAILY, preparing for war.

And on a side note, when do we Australians get a mention?

Time for our Space Program to be launched into orbit.
spaceflight.nasa.gov
www.discovery.com
apollo-society.org