Page "Space Shuttle program" Paragraph 28

In an internal e-mail apparently sent August 18, 2008 to NASA managers and leaked to the press, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin stated his belief that the Bush administration had made no viable plan for U. S. crews to participate in the International Space Station beyond 2011, and that Office of Management and Budget ( OMB ) and Office of Science and Technology Policy ( OSTP ) were actually seeking its demise.

The email appeared to suggest that Griffin believed the only reasonable solution was to extend the operation of the shuttle beyond 2010, but noted that Executive Policy ( i. e., the White House ) is firm that there will be no extension of the shuttle retirement date, and thus no U. S. capability to launch crews into orbit until the Ares I / Orion system becomes operational in 2014 at the very earliest.

He appeared to indicate that he did not see purchase of Russian launches for NASA crews as politically viable following the 2008 South Ossetia war, and hoped the new US administration will resolve the issue in 2009 by extending shuttle operations beyond 2010.

However, according to an article by former Space Shuttle program Director Wayne Hale on his official NASA blog, the space shuttle program, in preparation for the 2010 shutdown, has already terminated many specialty parts and materials contracts, many with small businesses whose only customer may have been the shuttle program and who closed shop and retired upon receiving their termination letters ; as a result, it would be difficult and expensive at this point to extend the shuttle program, and there would be a lag of at least a year ( without flights ) before exhausted exotic parts and supplies could be replaced.

The loss of talent from dismissed employees is another obstacle to program extension.