http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123309509&sc=fb&cc=fp
About 50 years ago, NASA introduced its first seven astronauts — the famous Mercury Seven. On Tuesday, the head of NASA introduced another seven people he called "space pioneers."
This time, they are all executives at companies that are working to develop private spaceships for astronauts. That's because under President Obama's new budget for NASA, the agency would cancel its own new rocket program and rely on commercial "space taxis" to get crews into orbit around the Earth.
By turning to private companies to get astronauts to the nearby space station, Bolden said, NASA would be free to focus on "the greatest challenges that lie ahead." It could emphasize new technology development to get astronauts out farther into space, eventually to the moon or other destinations like near-Earth asteroids.
Woah, woah, woah! Hasn't man already been to the moon?
ZOMGConsp1racy!
Edited, Feb 3rd 2010 12:25pm by Tare