Nasa: Next shuttle mission will be test flight

Nasa’s first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster would be a “test flight”, with astronauts inspecting their ship and practising repair techniques, the space agency announced tonight.

The agency considered flying the minimum number of astronauts and keeping the mission as short as possible, but later decided to go with a full set of six or seven astronauts on a normal-length mission of about a week and a half to perform some overdue repair work at the international space station.