From: "Mark Hessey" 


"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."

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