NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a Web chat today on NASA’s website that the U.S. space program will continue to work toward major future endeavors despite the end of the shuttle program.
In the immediate term, attention turns to using American commercial spacecraft for cargo and crew transportation to low Earth orbit.
But, Bolden said, “At the same time, NASA will focus on the design and development of a heavy lift rocket with a multi-purpose crew vehicle to enable us to at long last embark on deep space exploration with humans…..This type of advanced propulsion technology is going to be key to successful deep space exploration, and that is why President Obama has made funding in this area a priority.”
The Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Friday on the shuttle’s final mission before the program is retired.
“As the President has promised, NASA and the nation will continue our leadership in human spaceflight,” Bolden said in an answer to one of several questions posted to him in a live chat.
Bolden noted that NASA will continue an astronaut training program in Houston, rather than relying on the private sector to provide astronauts.
