Obama to discuss U.S. space program future

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 15 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama outlines the future of the U.S. space program Thursday in remarks at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Before delivering remarks on the new course for NASA and the U.S. role in space, Obama will tour a commercial rocket processing facility, the White House said.

In the morning before he travels to Florida, Obama will meet with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration Administrator Joseph Main about the April 5 explosion at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 miners, the White House said. After the meeting, Obama will speak about mine safety in the Rose Garden.

The White House also will make public the 2009 tax returns for Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, the White House said. The returns will be posted on the White House Web site's blog, www.WhiteHouse.gov/blog.