From: Phil Payne 

Mark Hessey wrote:
>
> "Phil Payne"  wrote: The US
space agency took the
> decision because, under President Goeorge W
> > Bush's new space programme, the space shuttle will be retired in
2010."
>
> http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11540
> "I just finished a long conversation with Dave Leckrone. O'Keefe decided,
> apparently almost purely for reasons of Shuttle safety, to cancel SM4.
> Budget was not a driving concern, nor was the new Bush space initiative.
> (Only the timing was related to the President's announcement.) Code S
> opposed the decision and had identified sufficient funding to cover the SM4
> slippage."
>
> Addendum: "Code S did not oppose the decision of the Administrator. The
> decision was based, as you described in your letter, on safety. Code S fully
> supports the decision."

MRD

--
  Phil Payne
  http://www.isham-research.com
  +44 7785 302 803
  +49 173 6242039

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