NASA, the American space agency responsible for putting a man on the moon but who also lost seven astronauts in its 2003 Columbia Shuttle voyage and seven astronauts in its 1986 Challenger take-off, says the first space shuttle mission since the disaster of 2003 will be launched next May or early June.

The Space Shuttle is NASA's reusable manned space vehicle designed for the transport of people, spacecraft and equipment to and from the Earth's orbit.

The first mission took place with Columbia on April 12, 1981, the same vehicle we lost in 2003.

The upcoming Shuttle mission with Discovery is called STS-114.

The craft takes its name from two famous sailing ships: one sailed by Henry Hudson in 1610-11 to search for a nothwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and HMS Discovery, a ship that accompanied explorer James Cook on his third and final major voyage, which led to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands.

Unofficially, the shuttle is named for the Discovery, the spaceship on which is set the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's seven STS-114 crew members on Discovery will be seven Americans, including a woman commander, an Australian-born astronaut and a Japanese-born astronaut.

NASA's STS-114 crew members includes:

Commander

Eileen Marie Collins, a Stanford grad, wife, mother and the first female pilot (1995) and first female commander of a Space Shuttle (Columbia 1999)

Pilot

James M. Kelly, husband and father of four

Mission Specialists

Charlie Camarda, husband and father of four

Wendy B. Lawrence, a runner, rower and triathelete

Dr. Stephen K. Robinson, also a Stanford grad, a stereo photographer and the lead guitarist, known as "Stevie Ray Robinson" in the rock 'n roll band, Max Q ('Max Q" stands for the point of maximum dynamic pressure which occurs during the launch phase of the Space Shuttle)

Soichi Noguchi, a husband and father of three children who was born in Japan in 1965.

Dr. Andrew S. W. Thomas, an Aussie by birth (whose parents still reside in South Australia), a classical guitarist, wind-surfer, runner, mountain biker and horseback rider and jumper

This week, training for the Space Shuttle's return to flight entered a new phase as the astronauts and Mission Control began full-scale rehearsals that will continue until days before launch.

The purpose of STS-114's mission: To deliver supplies to the International Space Station, and to test and evaluate new Space Shuttle flight safety, which includes new inspection and repair techniques.

After we lost Columbia's Commander, Rick D. Husband (45), William C. McCool (40), Michael P. Anderson (42), David M. Brown (46), Kalpana Chawla (42), Laurel Clark (41) and Ilan Ramon (47), the first Israeli astronaut, as they were coming home from mission STS-107, all shuttle missions were suspended pending investigation of the accident.

President Bush called February 1st, 2003 "a tragic day for the families of the astronauts and a tragic day for science."

Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon said, "the hearts of the American people and the people of Israel are bonded together. We all are holding hands and we all pray together. These times strengthen the feeling of common destiny, values and common vision of the American and Israeli nations. Ilan Ramon and his friends on the space shuttle were victims of science, the progress and aspiration of all of us to a better life on Earth."

In a Special CNN Report last year, NASA emphasized the need for accuracy, safety and communication as the space program moves forward.

The report indicated that:

NASA chief Sean O'Keefe has admitted the agency "flat missed" the accident's cause -- foam that hit the shuttle's wing shortly after liftoff. A post-crash report called for significant cultural and "structural changes" at NASA.

Columbia was in the final moments of its return to Earth when the damage was detected.

But by then it was too late. Super-heated air inside the wing caused the shuttle to disintegrate in flight.

It was the second fatal accident in 113 shuttle missions.

After the January 28th Challenger disaster in 1986, NASA grounded the fleet more than two years.

Since both accidents, improvements have been made to the shuttle and launch vehicle.

While the crew has been preparing for a 2005 launch, the hurricanes that hit east Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center is located, have already pushed the launch from March to May or June.

William Readdy, the NASA official in charge of human space flight, said the decision to resume shuttle launches next May was a major relief for the space agency.

Even before the storms hit, Nasa engineers were already warning that work on modifying the shuttles was getting behind schedule.

There is still a chance that the May launch date could be delayed, officials said.

In a press release issued by NASA this week, they said:

A web of computer and voice communication connections brings together dozens of flight controllers, the astronauts who will fly the Shuttle, support engineers and training instructors to simulate key portions of the next mission. The training is complex, with planners inserting multiple problems during each practice session and gauging the performance of the team as it addresses them.

This first eight-hour "flight-specific integrated simulation" focuses on the Space Shuttle Discovery's rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station. The simulation includes practicing a new flip, a rendezvous pitch maneuver, that the Space Shuttle performs as it approaches to allow Station crew members to photograph the Shuttle's heat shielding tiles to check their condition.

"This is where we stop just brainstorming and thinking about how we're going to go fly this flight in space," said Lead Flight Director Paul Hill. "This will look and feel to us just like a real flight -- even to the astronauts. Once the clock starts ticking in the simulation, we get the same adrenalin when something bad starts to happen, we get the same rush when we solve a problem that keeps the crew out of danger, as we would during the real thing," he added.

As these dress rehearsals continue, the team will practice every aspect of the flight. Some aspects, such as launch and landing, will be rehearsed many times.

Three major elements make up the Shuttle:

1) the orbiter, which is named after pioneering sea vessels that established new frontiers in research and exploration (e.g. Columbia (1981 and 2003), Challenger (1983 and 1986), Discovery (1984 and 2005), Atlantis (1985), Endeavour (1992).

2) the external tank which contains liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the orbiter's three main engines. It is the only major element not recovered and reused.

3) two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) which are filled with solid propellant and burn in unison with the orbiter's engines at liftoff. The boosters are designed for reuse on at least twenty missions, and are recovered at sea after separation.

"Risk will always be part of any spaceflight," said Wayne Hale, NASA's space shuttle deputy manager at Johnson Space Center in Houston, adding that "We've brought the risk down a lot, but it's not [going to be] zero at the end of the day."

Hale said the failure rate for the space shuttle program has been two flights, and 14 lives, out of 113. "My job is to make sure it isn't three," he added.

Eileen, Jim, Charlie, Wendy, Steve, Soichi and Andy, we will begin praying for your safe and successful journey, beginning now. We are already living vicariously through you as you prepare to make this dream-come-true voyage a reality for all who believe in NASA and the future of our space program.

Inspire & Be Inspired (R).

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful and Discovery living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King