washington post article on ssf redesign space station redesign leader says cost goal may be impossible today the washington post ran an article with the headline shown above the article starts with a leader of the nasa team in charge of redesigning the planned space station said yesterday the job is tough and may be impossible o connor is quoted saying whether it is possible to cut costs that much and still provide for meaningful research is a real question for me o connor said everything is fair game including dropping or curtailing existing contracts with the aerospace industry chopping management of the space station program at some nasa facilities around the country working closely with the russian space station mir and using unmanned titan rockets to supplement the manned space shuttle fleet o connor says his team has reviewed design options so far and they are sorting the serious candidates into three categories based on cost the post says o connor described the design derived from the current ssf as a high cost option i believe kathy sawyer the post writer got confused here i listened in on part of o connor s briefing to the press on monday and in one part of the briefing o connor talked about how the white house wants three options sorted by cost low medium and high in another part of the briefing he discussed the three teams he has formed to look at three options ssf derivative larc modular buildup with bus msfc and single launch core wingless orbiter jsc later in response to a reporters question i thought i heard o connor say the option based on a ssf redesign was a moderate cost option in between low high cost options not the high cost option as sawyer wrote the article goes on to describe the other two options as one features modules that could gradually be fitted together in orbit similar to the russian mir the other is a core facility that could be deposited in orbit in a single launch like skylab that option would use existing hardware from the space shuttle the fuselage for example in its basic structure the last sentence in the article contradicts the title the first paragraph the sentence reads he o connor said a streamlined version of the planned space station freedom is still possible within the administration s budget guidelines
