Study: NASA needs more astronauts

Sep 7, 2011, 21:07 GMT

Washington - NASA may not have enough astronauts in the post-shuttle era to keep the International Space Station staffed, a study released Wednesday found.

The US space agency has reduced its astronaut corps in recent years ahead of the July retirement of the shuttle fleet, but that number may not be sufficient if some astronauts leave or are needed for other missions, an analysis by the National Research Council said.

There are currently 61 astronauts, down from 150 in 2000, as many left NASA ahead of the shuttle's retirement, the report said. NASA should increase its rosters to provide for a greater margin of extra astronauts, the analysis concluded.

'The currently projected minimum target size for the active astronaut corps poses a risk to the US investment in human spaceflight capabilities; in particular, the committee notes that the plan for the size of the astronaut corps, which is sized only to meet ISS crew requirements, does not have the flexibility to accommodate unexpected increases in attrition, or commercial, exploration and new mission development tasks,' the report said.

Since the shuttle was retired, astronauts are relying on Russian Soyuz craft to take them to the orbiting ISS. A failure on a Russian cargo rocket last month has raised questions about safety and could prompt the ISS to be temporarily abandoned if the problem cannot be fixed by November.

The US space programme plans to work with commercial companies to ferry astronauts aloft within several years.