Re: gruesome unity emmanuel glued cyrus

["Alyce Fritz" <dfucsclqqtvud at sprintsec dot com>]

The shuttle fleet has been grounded since Columbia broke apart over Texas while on landing approach to Florida's Kennedy Space Center on February 1, 2003.The prize was offered to the first manned flight to return safely from two trips 62 miles (100 km) high into suborbital space.Because of these restrictions there are only a limited number of opportunities to launch the space shuttle. The first starts May 15 and runs through June 3, when NASA hopes to launch Discovery. The second window opens July 12, when NASA hopes to launch Atlantis. Next Wednesday or Thursday, weather permitting, the 60-year-old retired investor plans to board the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in Salina, Kansas, and begin his journey toward Europe and the Middle East, over Asia and the Pacific, and back to Kansas.NASA said Discovery's launch is to be followed by a July 12 Atlantis launch.The CAIB made 15 recommendations to NASA on ways to improve the shuttle program.Next Wednesday or Thursday, weather permitting, the 60-year-old retired investor plans to board the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in Salina, Kansas, and begin his journey toward Europe and the Middle East, over Asia and the Pacific, and back to Kansas.The GlobalFlyer consists of three hulls attached to a 114-foot (35-meter) wing that measures more than half the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Twin "boom" hulls on either side of the cockpit hull each carry almost 5,500 pounds of fuel. The plane is expected to reach heights of 52,000 feet (17,000 meters) and travel at speeds in excess of 250 knots (285 mph, 440 kph).NASA has been developing repair techniques for the space shuttle's thermal protection system for the past two years. Not all of the techniques have panned out and the Discovery crew will be testing only three potential fixes for tile instead of the five originally planned. There will be no tests on repair techniques for the reinforced carbon used on the shuttle's wings, where the hole was created in Columbia.According to Readdy, engineers at the Kennedy Space Center have been working hard to upgrade the space shuttles, including hardening the vehicle and preparing them for returning to space, "The vehicles look like they are brand new cars," he saidThe GlobalFlyer consists of three hulls attached to a 114-foot (35-meter) wing that measures more than half the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Twin "boom" hulls on either side of the cockpit hull each carry almost 5,500 pounds of fuel. The plane is expected to reach heights of 52,000 feet (17,000 meters) and travel at speeds in excess of 250 knots (285 mph, 440 kph).The prize was offered to the first manned flight to return safely from two trips 62 miles (100 km) high into suborbital space.The October flight of Rutan's SpaceShipOne won his team the $10 million X Prize, an award from a nonprofit foundation aimed at spurring civilian space flight.Fossett has partnered with two men whose experience may be invaluable to the mission: fellow adventurer and Virgin Atlantic chief Sir Richard Branson and aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose plane Voyager launched brother Dick Rutan and co-pilot Jeana Yeager around the world without refueling in 1986.