April 18, 2001

 NASA weighing options for crew escape vehicle

 By Steven Siceloff
 FLORIDA TODAY

 CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA may modify an experimental spacecraft and use it as a
 space station lifeboat, officials said Tuesday.

 The agency is considering several plans that would provide an escape craft
 for the station without exceeding the outpost's tight budget, space station
 Deputy Manager Bill Gerstenmaier said.

 NASA had planned on a $1 billion, 7-person emergency craft that would be
 attached to the station. That project was axed in February when it was
 revealed the International Space Station would overrun projections by $4
 billion.

 The 29-foot-long, triangular-shaped pod, which uses its body like a wing,
 is needed if the station is to host crews of six or seven people.

 Engineers have already tested two smaller versions of the craft, called
 X-38, by dropping them from a B-52 over the California desert.

 NASA has spent $66 million on the X-38 so far.

 A third test spacecraft is being built at Johnson Space Center.

 Engineers have not said how much modifications would cost or how many
 people the spacecraft could hold.

 All the tests have been unmanned with computers controlling the landing
 using a sail-like parachute.

 Gerstenmaier said plans are still on track to carry the craft into orbit
 inside shuttle Columbia next year and release it for a fiery ride back to
 Earth.

 Once in the atmosphere, the craft relies on a parachute to slow it down,
 then a controlled 5,500-square-foot parasail used to glide it to a runway.

 Gerstenmaier said the X-38 could be hollowed out after the test and adapted
 to the role of a lifeboat.

 The European Space Agency also has been approached by NASA to build an
 escape vehicle.

 Ernst Messerschmidt, head of ESA's Astronaut Center, said ESA may not be
 able to build a station lifeboat any quicker than NASA can turn the X-38
 into a usable substitute.

 He said the research outpost, home to three crewmembers, needs to grow
 quickly to accommodate six or seven residents. Otherwise, there will be
 little room for science.

 ESA may have a crewmember on the station once a year. That could change to
 one every two years if the crew size remains at three.