President Barack Obama signed into law the National Aeronautics and Space Authorization Act of 2010, bipartisian legislation that aims to chart a new course for space exploration, science, technology development and aeronautics. The legislation makes provision for the spending some $58.4 billion for the NASA space program over the next three years. Broken down, the bill appropriates $19 billion for 2011; $19.45 billion for 2012; and $19.96 billion for 2013, and articulates a plan for the next several years of the agency.
In expressing his satisfaction, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, said that the legislation supports the president’s ambitious agenda for NASA to pioneer new frontiers of innovation and discovery.
“We will foster a growing commercial space transportation industry that will allow NASA to focus our efforts on executing direction in the act to start work on a heavy-lift architecture to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and to develop a multipurpose crew vehicle for use with our new space launch systems”, Bolden said. “Also, we will continue to invest in green aviation and other technologies that make air travel safer and more efficient.”
Bolden added that NASA would be collaborating with international partners, industry and academia to build and launch observatories and robotic missions to explore the solar system, as welll as seek to better understand planet earth in the Earth Science program.
“We have been given a new path in space that will enable our country to develop greater capabilities, transforming the state of the art in aerospace technologies”, Bolden said. “We will continue to maintain and expand vital partnerships around the world. It will help us retool for the industries and jobs of the future that will be vital for long-term economic growth and national security.”
