WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA has officially added another space shuttle flight to its schedule.
The space agency on Thursday set a target launch date of June 28 for the shuttle Atlantis to make the last flight of the space program. The crew will take up supplies to the International Space Station and return a faulty pump.
Now three missions remain before NASA retires its shuttle fleet this year.
NASA added the flight although it doesn't know where it will get the money to pay for it. The Obama administration and Congress agreed to the extra flight but Congress hasn't given NASA the few hundred million dollars needed.
A NASA spokesman said the agency was under the gun to start preparations. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to launch in late June.
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