BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — President Barack Obama signed a NASA spending bill into law Monday. The NASA 2010 Authorization Act will give NASA one extra flight next June before shutting down the space shuttle program.
Just hours before President Obama signed the $11.5 billion funding package into law, Senator Bill Nelson worked to put a bold face on the future of NASA.
"It continues an additional shuttle mission into next summer that will help with our employment at KSC," Nelson said.
But Nelson admits the new shuttle mission only delays thousands of layoffs.
"Problem over a number of years is that NASA was starved of money and the new rocket wasn't developed in time and that's causing the layoffs now," he said.
Initial job loss estimates came in around 8,000 thousand. Now, Nelson says the math adds up somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000.
The new plan includes the development of a heavy-lift rocket for both men and materials to be moved outside of Earth's orbit. It also includes funding for a 5-year revamp of Kennedy Space Center along with a third and final shuttle mission.
Monday, Nelson said there was a perception problem about Obama's commitment to NASA. At his Orlando office, he confronted that perception in an international conference call with reporters.
"The President is a real fan of the space station, but that's not the perception that his people have given. They have given the perception that he was canceling the manned space program, when they said early on that they were canceling the Constellation program. That was a bad choice of words. They should have said that they were going to restructure the Constellation program," Nelson said.
That restructuring still includes bold missions for U.S. astronauts.
"The goal is not the moon. We were there 40 years ago. The goal is Mars," Nelson said.
Nelson called the bill a truly bi-partisan effort that was crafted by Republicans and Democrats together.
The space shuttle Discovery crew is expected to arrive in Central Florida Tuesday. The crew will fly into Kennedy Space Center to get ready for this week's dress rehearsal. On Friday, the six-astronaut crew will go through the full countdown.
Discovery will head to the International Space Station for one final mission on November 1.
WFTV
