Alan Boyle writes: The Senate Commerce Committee is due to vote Thursday on a measure that would shift the direction of NASA's revised space vision - not necessarily to return to the moon, but to extend the space shuttle program, speed up the development of a heavy-lift rocket and slow down spending on space commercialization.
The prospect of reduced spending for private-sector spaceflight has sparked an 11th-hour campaign to get the legislation amended.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said in a DemRadio sound bite that he expected his version of the bill to win the committee's approval, and that "the White House will announce their support for our bill" on Thursday. The Orlando Sentinel quoted an aide to President Barack Obama as saying the measure "appears to contain the critical elements necessary for achieving the president's vision for NASA."
Obama's original proposal fell flat in Congress, and Nelson has portrayed his compromise version of the reauthorization bill as the best way to safeguard thousands of aerospace jobs as the space shuttle program winds down.
The bill calls for NASA to add one more shuttle flight in mid-2011 to resupply the International Space Station, and start work on a heavy-lift launch vehicle and crew vehicle that could eventually send astronauts beyond Earth orbit. The White House's proposal said only that work on the heavy-lifter should begin by 2015.
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http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/14/4679091-crunch-time-for-nasas-space-vision