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Editorial

Nature 436, 603 (4 August 2005) | doi:10.1038/436603a; Published online 3 August 2005

Station at a crossroads

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Frank international discussions need to start immediately if anything is to be salvaged from the space station, whose completion currently relies on the ailing space shuttle.

Until about a week ago, most observers of the space shuttle assumed that the fleet could be kept alive until its planned retirement in 2010.But the latest mission of the shuttle Discovery, with its daily litany of stuck fuel gauges, falling foam and chipped tiles (see More falling foam puts shuttle programme in serious doubt), raises the prospect that this cannot happen.

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