Privatizing Ast. Flights a Conservative position???--approach must work

James Dean - Florida Today
 
After the space shuttle's retirement this year, frustration over the decline in the nation's human spaceflight capability may leave President Barack Obama open to attack in the 2012 campaign. But experts say the Republicans vying to replace Obama are unlikely to seek big changes to NASA's post-shuttle transition, which relies on Russia to deliver U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station until the commercial sector is ready to take over the job. Obama's signature space policy shift — privatizing astronaut flights to the space station — is a conservative one, and tight NASA budgets in the coming years will limit flexibility to change course.