The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued another statement yesterday, saying their plan to conduct a weather research mission at U-Tapao naval base may be revisited next year.
NASA spokesman Steve Cole said that currently, no decision has been made on whether NASA will be able to fly the mission next year or sometime in the future.
NASA cancelled their request to use the U-Tapao air base as the project’s operations headquarters after the Thai government agreed to forward NASA’s proposal to Parliament for a non-voting debate on August 1.
NASA had sought to operate the mission from U-Tapao airfield which was a launchpad for U.S. B-52 bombing missions during the Vietnam War, because of its central geographic location, access to infrastructure and cost considerations.
Mr. Cole noted there are several other locations both inside and outside Thailand which could serve as headquarters for a future study.
He concluded that without proper approval from the government by June 26, the project is not allocated sufficient amount of lead time to prepare the mission for the study in August and September.
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