APPresident Obama at the Kennedy Space Center after defending his new space policy this month
BARBARA KLEIN: The president's plan includes adding six billion dollars to NASA's budget over five years. That money would go to using private companies to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. The idea is for NASA to buy services for space transportation, rather than spacecraft with existing designs.
The goal is to support a private space transportation industry that makes it easier and less costly to reach space. The administration says a new private space industry could create ten thousand new jobs across the country in five years.
This is a big change from earlier models where NASA led and controlled the development of space vehicles. John Logsdon is a member of NASA's advisory council. He says private industry has been waiting for this kind of message.
JOHN LOGSDON: "This approach is a signal to the private space community that they can look to government partnerships, government as a user, or even government as an investment partner as they go forward."
STEVE EMBER: Yet depending on private space companies has its risks. Right now, few companies have rockets that are able to lift people into space.
The United Launch Alliance brings together two companies. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have carried tons of satellites into space on their rockets. But the changes that would be needed to carry astronauts are costly and untried.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25