Forum set to discuss NASA future

President Obama will spell out his vision for the future of American astronauts in space at a conference in Florida on April 15. The president has been criticized over his plans to kill the Constellation Program, designed to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. NASA has spent $9 billion on the program. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said he hopes Obama will use the meeting to lay out a goal and a timetable for sending astronauts to Mars. Nelson has suggested continuing parts of Constellation, including the Orion crew capsule and the Ares I rocket as a test vehicle for a future heavy-lift rocket. Although Constellation is under the gun, the program passed a two-day preliminary design review last week. (Source: New York Times, 03/08/10) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are both involved in Constellation.