Source: The New York Times
With rock music blaring, fifth graders count down from 10-9-8 to the rocket boosters’ firing up, and blasting the computer-generated astronauts toward space.
“Hey, the future looks good, huh?” says Ken Larson, jumping to center stage at the new Exploration Space exhibition here.
Mr. Larson’s job is to inspire the next generation as much as he was inspired — by his father, a reporter who befriended the first astronauts, and by his grandmother, one of the first 10 employees here at what one plaque calls “the hot burning center of American dreams.”
The center is cooling, though. The space shuttles are scheduled to retire this year and instead of replacing them with new rockets for a return to the moon — the plan under President George W. Bush — President Obama wants NASA to focus on the long-term challenge of reaching deep space.
Simply put, the United States will no longer be sending its own astronauts through the stratosphere. Instead, they will hitch rides with the Russians until around 2016, when private companies start carrying NASA astronauts and other passengers into orbit.
That is, if Congress goes along. Several senators, including Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, have already pledged to save the rocket program, Project Constellation, arguing it is vital for space, security and the economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/science/space/28space.html?scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse