NASA has slipped into an extreme precautionary mode by getting a four-man rescue team on standby if anything goes wrong with Space Shuttle Discovery, which is expected to be launched in the first half of May.
The team will be lead by Air Force Col. Steven Lindsey, and will have Navy Cmdr. Mark Kelly, Piers Sellers and Air Force reservist Michael Fossum as its other members.
NASA has taken this unprecedented step after the space shuttle Columbia blew up in February 2003 when it was coming back to earth. All seven astronauts abroad the Columbia were killed.
The Atlantis is to be ready for a possible mid-June emergency launch. This launch is fraught with untold risks. For it will have to be without all the routine tests & precautions that are usually followed before any planned launch.
The crew of Discovery will stop off at the International Space Station, which is capable of housing only three persons. Additionally, if Atlantis were required to set the rescue mission into effect, it would return with a crew of 11 members. This scenario is a nightmarish one for all concerned.
It is being reported that Discovery will not be launched until Atlantis is ready to follow it one month later.
The rescue team commander, Steven Lindsey had a final comment, “It’s a place where we don't want to go. We're training for a mission we never want to fly,"
