NASA hopeful lawmakers will back commercial space budget
William Harwood - CBS News
The Obama administration has asked Congress for $830 million in fiscal 2013 to fund on-going development of new commercial manned spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. But NASA only got half of what it asked for in 2012, a cut that effectively pushed the first operational launch back one year to 2017, and program officials said Tuesday any similar cuts in 2013 and beyond could push the program to the brink of irrelevance. That's because the space station is the primary destination for private-sector spacecraft and the government currently is committed to operating the lab complex only through 2020. While NASA and its partners hope to keep the station going beyond that, funding is not assured.
NASA targets $830M annually to reach local astronaut launch by 2017
James Dean - Florida Today
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120215/NEWS02/302150011/NASA-targets-830M-annually-reach-local-astronaut-launch-by-2017?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Space
NASA needs sustained funding at the levels President Barack Obama recommended this week for commercial vehicles to launch astronauts from Florida by 2017, officials said Tuesday. “We think private industry could field a system in probably four or five years if they had adequate funding,” said Phil McAlister, head of commercial spaceflight programs at NASA Headquarters. “If we get less money than that, obviously it will slip that date out a little bit further.” McAlister joined space industry representatives at a conference to discuss the next phase in development of commercial transportation services needed to return NASA crews to the International Space Station on American vehicles instead of Russian spacecraft
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