With a new president on the horizon, a key Senate committee moved Wednesday to protect long-standing priorities of the nation's space program from the potential upheaval of an incoming administration.
Members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee passed a bipartisan bill authorizing $19.5 billion to continue work on a Mars mission and efforts to send astronauts on private rockets to the International Space Station from U.S. soil -- regardless of shifting political winds.
Under the Senate bill, NASA would have an official goal of sending a crewed mission to Mars within the next 25 years, the first time a trip to the Red Planet would be mandated by law.
The legislation would authorize money for different NASA components, including $4.5 billion for exploration, nearly $5 billion for space operations and $5.4 billion for science.
Beyond money, the measure would:
Direct NASA to continue working on the Space Launch System and Orion multi-purpose vehicle that are the linchpins of a planned mission to send astronauts to Mars by the 2030s.
The bill includes specific milestones for an unmanned exploration mission by 2018 and a crewed exploration mission by 2021.
Require development of an advanced space suit to protect astronauts on a Mars mission.
Continue development of the Commercial Crew Program designed to send astronauts to the space station -- no later than 2018 -- on private rockets launched from U.S. soil.
Expand the full use and life of the space station through 2024 while laying the foundation for use through 2028.
Allow greater opportunities for aerospace companies to conduct business in Low Earth Orbit.
Improve monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of the medical effects astronauts experience from spending time in deep space.
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Tent Cities Full Of Homeless People Are Booming In Cities All Over America As Poverty Spikes
Ya lets throw away taxpayer money on unrealistic endeavors that do nothing to actually help our own people.
Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day.
And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about.
It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year.
Yes, the stock market may have been experiencing a temporary boom for the last couple of years, but for those on the low end of the economic scale things have just continued to deteriorate.
Most of the time, those that establish
tent cities do not want to be discovered because local authorities have a
nasty habit of shutting them down and forcing homeless people out of
the area.
Universal housing wouldn’t have much chance of passage in Washington.
Perhaps they want to one day send all of them to Mars...they certainly have the money for that...
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