
WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency hopes to turn to the private sector to provide transportation for crew and supplies to the International Space Station.
Space News reports that NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, speaking at a Space Transportation Association breakfast, said he hopes to see a vigorous commercial transportation sector. He said that the best way for NASA to help that develop is to buy services from the private sector instead of handing out contracts.
NASA plans to retire the space shuttle in 2010, switching to the Crew Exploration Vehicle that is now in development. But Griffin suggested that unmanned cargo shuttles could also be used to supply the space station.
He said that NASA will have to maintain its own capacity to get astronauts and their equipment to the station -- "We cannot be hostage to an individual provider that can stop or go out of business." But he said that NASA does not need to be the only provider.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Additional Science News Stories | |
BOSTON, May 31 (UPI) --
A U.S. appeals court panel in Boston ruled Thursday that the federal Defense of Marriage Act cannot affect gay marriages in states that permit them.
|
OSLO, Norway, May 31 (UPI) --
Dozens of teenage girls suffered minor injuries during a stampede at a Justin Bieber concert in Oslo, Norway, officials said Thursday.
|
BALTIMORE, May 31 (UPI) --
U.S. astronomers are forecasting the Milky Way will have a violent collision with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy in about 4 billion years.
|
NORTHAMPTON, Mass., May 31 (UPI) --
A Massachusetts woman said she investigated bird sounds in her yard and discovered a baby cardinal with two heads and three beaks.
|
| Stories | Photos | People | Comments |
View Caption