COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – While NASA is already planning the information about the retirement of the space shuttles — – including this week's announcement that museums gets to display — a bid to continue to fly the orbiters as a commercial service still in the works iseven if it is considered a long shot, SPACE.com has learned.

United Space Alliance (USA), a principal contractor of NASA, working on a plan to commercially fly the space shuttle Atlantis and Endeavour twice a year after the construction of a new external fuel tank.

The idea was first discussed in February, but does not seem to get much traction. Still, United States is not giving up.

"We're not done yet-we are probably almost ready, but we still have a shot at it, so we are going to make it even once," Dan Brandenstein, USA executive vice president and a former NASA astronaut, told SPACE.com here at the 27 national space Symposium.

The notion of space shuttles, commercial flying is investigated by the United States in the past, but the looming retirement of the vehicles new urgency for reopened the debate. [NASA's Shuttle program in pictures]

"We have, since the United States was founded, and in varying degrees of enthusiasm, proposal a commercial shuttle, so this really isn't anything new," told Virginia Barnes, USA president and chief operating officer, SPACE.com during the meeting. "We're coming on the retirement of the orbiters, who made it to the last throes of exploring another alternative commercial brings. The dynamics of this industry has changed so much, just over the last year, we dusted off what we had done in the past, and developed a more commercial approach, based on the current environment. So we are still pursuing those. " [Most memorable Shuttle missions]

New life for old shuttles?

Current state of affairs now, after the space shuttle program to a close, NASA astronauts must rely on Russian spacecraft for journeys to the International Space Station until new commercial vehicles are willing and able to people in low-Earth orbit. Proposal from the United States commercially the orbiters flying is part of an attempt to avoid or reduce that gap in the United States can fly man into space after the last Shuttle mission later this year.

"We fill the hole and fly the shuttle five years until this commercial guys to show that they can, in fact do," said Brandenstein.

The plan would also be the cost of the launch of the shuttles operational by pursuing other investors and customers besides NASA, said Barnes. Details of the proposal are still in development, and Barnes said that the plan is "just short of taken to [NASA]."

Although the NASA chief Charles Bolden revealed the final museum destinations for the orbiters Tuesday (12 April), Barnes is not discouraged. [Poll: do you agree with NASA's Shuttle Museum Picks?]

"There is no obligation on time when the orbiters would be moved, and certainly my company expects to be the ones to button up them and prepare them for their museums and their transportation," Barnes said.

A real long shot

Yet, despite USA's enthusiasm for the idea remains unlikely to go forward.

"It's a very long, but not because of feasibility," Barnes said. "There's a lot of momentum in the commercial market. A long shot is probably euphemism. A "proposal" is probably a strong word, let's call it a "approach." "

United Space Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, was founded in 1995, and workers are the primary workers at NASA's shuttle fleet.

* NASA's Shuttle program in pictures: a tribute
* How much are the NASA Space Shuttle worthwhile?
* Giant leaps: Top milestones of Human Spaceflight \

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