DENVER - With the end of the space shuttle program, NASA shifts its sights onto new projects.
Since the 1958 Space Act, NASA has held a strong foothold in space discovery and science. With the conclusion of the space-shuttle program, NASA is reevaluating its goals and looking for ways to continue to expand space travel.
"Human space flight has a bright future, Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administator, said. "The space shuttle was a great program, and we are so pleased that that program is now leading to the next great adventures in space."
NASA's immediate goals are to make successful trips to an asteroid and then to the planet Mars. NASA hopes that using the technology developed under the Shuttle program for these next missions will be big money savers.
"We are looking at being able to go to space for a lot less money using advanced technology and using the aerospace industry," Garver said.
One possible change in the future of space flight is the entrance of the private sector into the market. Sierra Nevada Corporation, based in Louisville, CO, has already privately developed the Dream Chaser, a capsule that would put humans in space.
NASA has plans to continue to develope space technology and collaborate with innovators in the private sector.
"What NASA does is develop technologies that can then be turned over to the private sector so they can add their own innovations," Garver said.
To continue American interest in the space program, NASA is looking to younger generations and hoping to peak their curiosity in this field. That's the inspiration behind NASA's partnership with intern programs at United Launch Alliance and Ball Aerospace in Colorado.
Interns in these programs are college engineering students who develop full-size rockets, payloads and learn about everything that goes into getting a space vehicle into orbit.
"They are not only what we believe will create our future but it is why we are doing this," Garver said. "The NASA program is something they have to feel they are a part of."
To learn more about the future of NASA's space program visit http://www.nasa.gov/.
Lauren Knobbe contributed to this report.
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