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Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington         March 24, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-0951/4769)

RELEASE: 03-119

NASA DEVELOPS LONG-TERM PLANNING PROCESS FOR SPACE SHUTTLE

     NASA is taking new steps to ensure Space Shuttles fly 
safely into the future. Last week, during the first of what 
will be an annual Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) 
Summit, NASA led the U.S. space flight community in a 
comprehensive debate on the long-term requirements to extend 
the life of the Space Shuttle fleet. 

The two-day event (March 19, 20) at NASA's Michoud Assembly 
Facility in Louisiana brought together about 200 government 
and aerospace industry professionals. The summit served as an 
unprecedented forum to explore, discuss, and determine what 
the best strategy to safely and effectively fly the Space 
Shuttle fleet to support key missions until at least the 
middle of the next decade.

"The Service Life Extension Program is off to a good start," 
said NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for International 
Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs Michael Kostelnik. 
"The SLEP Summit helped us establish the process for all the 
Shuttle Program stakeholders to decide what the most 
important areas of investment should be," he said.

Summit participants heard from seven SLEP panels: Safety, 
Sustainability, Infrastructure, Aerospace Industry, 
Performance, Operations and Resources. The panel's 
recommendations were consolidated and submitted to NASA's 
Space Flight Leadership Council (SFLC) by the Integration 
Panel.

The SFLC, composed of NASA's senior Space Flight leadership, 
identified 60 candidate projects, which are targeted at 
critical service life extension issues, for further 
consideration. A "Tiger Team" was chartered to prepare an 
internal submittal within 30 to 45 days to be vetted during 
NASA's FY 2005 budget process this summer. The long-term 
strategy will be further refined at SLEP Summit II next year. 

SLEP is a key component of the NASA's Integrated Space 
Transportation Plan, which is a strategic roadmap for the 
agency's future in space transportation, including current 
and future systems. The Summit also included discussion of 
the Shuttle fleet's return to flight. The fleet was grounded 
after the loss of the Columbia orbiter and its crew on 
February 1. Planning for the SLEP Summit began before the 
Columbia accident. The Summit was dedicated to the memory of 
the STS-107 crew and the resolve to return to flight.

"Flying our mission safely is our top priority, especially 
when we talk about extending the life of the Shuttle fleet. 
And we have to improve safety, not simply maintain it, if we 
want to keep flying the Shuttle for another 15 years or so," 
said Bill Readdy, NASA Associate Administrator for Space 
Flight. "Once the Columbia Accident Investigation Board has 
completed its investigation and determined the cause of the 
accident, all of their recommendations will be addressed and 
incorporated into our investment plan," he said. 

Additional information about SLEP is available on the 
Internet at: 

www.mafevents.com/SLEP/home.htm

For more information about NASA and space flight on the 
Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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