Senate committee approves NASA's request for additional shuttle mission

by Steven Mostyn - Jul 16 2010, 10:29

A Senate committee has approved NASA’s request for an additional shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011. The final flight will likely see Atlantis blasting off in the summer of next year in order to re-supply the orbiting science facility on a mission attached to a dollar value of around $1 billion USD. 

Not limited to just providing the green light for an extra ISS mission, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has rolled out a three-year spending plan for NASA, which includes maintaining contracts, equipment and personnel in order to facilitate further missions – should they be necessary ahead of the shuttle fleet’s formal retirement.

The committee also made clear its support for President Obama’s call to NASA’s operating costs by cancelling the previous administration’s hugely expensive Constellation program and its ambitions to send manned missions back to the moon. 

Other elements contained within the plan include an ISS service extension to 2020, an immediate momentum increase regarding the development of heavy-lift rocket technology, and a clearer focus on channelling investment into commercial companies capable of building vehicles to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit.

The bill, known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010, must now pass before the full Senate.

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