From a blog at the OrlandoSentinel.com, we learn the Senator John McCain, joined by Republican colleagues Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and David Vitter of New Orleans, sent a letter to President Bush this week, saying that in light of tensions with Russia, the White House should tell NASA to halt any further dismantling of the shuttle infrastructure for at least a year to keep open the possibility of more shuttle flights beyond 2010.

"We believe it is imperative, as NASA continues the transition from the Space Shuttle to the successor vehicles, that the means for producing additional flight hardware and obtaining additional flight engineering and support services, not be completely and irretrievably lost though destruction or deterioration, at least until a clear path to alternative launch capabilities is in hand," the letter said.

The letter marks a major new initiative on space by the McCain presidential campaign and the Republicans. McCain was just in Florida soliciting advice on the future of the American space program. During the meeting, he was asking for alternatives to relying on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to keep American astronauts in space if the shuttle is mothballed as scheduled in 2010. The request, if backed by the White House, paves the way for the shuttle to keep flying beyond its scheduled retirement date and would prevent any more contracts from shuttle suppliers, contractors and subcontractors from being turned off. A big round of layoffs is expected in October at NASA's Michoud tank assembly facility in New Orleans. The facility makes the giant orange external fuel tanks, without which the shuttle could not fly.

Many in Washington and beyond are unhappy at the thought of having to rely on Russia to fetry astronauts to space during the gap. And space supporters have been wondering why it's necessary to rush dismantling shuttle infrastructure if Ares and Orion are running behind schedule. The White House and NASA have repeatedly said that they need to end the space shuttle program to be able to free up funds to develop the next moon rocket. If shuttle continues beyond 2010 then the overhead costs of the program would consume funds for Ares and Orion. To read the complete article and letter, head over to this link...