Senate Approves NASA Bill, Extra Space Shuttle Flight

August 9, 2010 at 8:04 am | Posted in Space Law Current Events | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: Space.com

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed a NASA authorization bill Thursday that would add a space shuttle flight to the manifest next year and require the space agency to get started immediately on a heavy-lift rocket capable of supporting manned missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

The bill also authorizes funding for NASA’s proposed commercial crew initiative, but at a level below the agency’s request.

“This bill offers a blueprint to move America’s civilian space program forward in a smart, fiscally responsible way,” Sen. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a statement. “We’ve had to take a clear, hard look at what we want from NASA in the years and decades to come. We’ve asked the tough questions. The result is a truly bipartisan bill that will help refocus and reinvigorate the agency, while making key investments in aeronautics, science, and education. I’m proud the Senate has moved it one step closer to becoming law.”…more