Obama Signs Up NASA For New Direction

NASA, the US space agency has been given a new direction with the signing by President Barack Obama of the NASA Authorization Act 2010. The legislation, passed by Congress last week, gives the agency mandates to fly the space station until 2020 and to launch one extra shuffle next year.

The president’s signature brings to an end eight months of heated debate on Capitol Hill about the future direction of the agency. The act will mark a big change in the way NASA goes about its business, particularly in the area of human spaceflight.

Charles Bolden, Nasa’s Administrator told reporters: “Our nation’s leaders have come together and endorsed a blueprint for Nasa, one that requires us to think and act boldly as we move our agency into the future. This legislation supports the president’s ambitious plan for Nasa to pioneer new frontiers of innovation and discovery.”

Funds of $1.3 billion is to be allocated to encouraging private companies to design, develop and build rockets and capsules capable of delivering astronauts to the international space Station [I SS].

The Constellation program started under Pres. George Bush that planned to return humans to the moon with a new spaceship called Orion and two new rockets is to be abandoned. About $9 billion has so far been spent on Constellation, however much of its technology and know-how will now be directed into a new rocket system capable of launching spaceships on missions that go far beyond the IAS S.

Legislators in Washington want NASA to be given $11.5 billion over the next six years to have the new rocket ready for operations by the end of December 2016. The act also authorizes $19 billion for NASA in the year 2011 to allow the agency to expand its activities in a number of services including Earth observation.