Family Life

06.29.10 |

The Obama administration has just released its new National Space Policy, which calls for a "more affordable" program of human exploration beyond the Earth. The administration wants NASA to rely more heavily on the commercial sector to develop rockets that can send cargo and humans to low Earth orbit, like the space station. That would free up NASA to focus on scientific research, robotic missions and developing the space ships which will one day carry humans to Mars. NASA is retiring its shuttle fleet next year and will have to rely on Russian rockets to take Americans into space.

 Meanwhile, the administration has essentially scrapped the Constellation program that was designed to send humans back to the moon and on to Mars. The new policy also talks about the need to act responsibly in space and it pushes to increase international cooperation. The policy also says that space-based technologies should be used for national security and to study and monitor global climate change.