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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said he sees a possible turning point for the solid rocket motor industry in Utah after the Senate Commerce Committee passed the NASA Authorization Bill Thursday.
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President Barack Obama's plan to redirect U.S. astronauts to near-Earth asteroids and eventually to Mars received a boost Thursday from a Senate panel that also agreed to extend the life of the space shuttle program for a year."For the first time in six months, we believe we have some really outstanding good news about the future of NASA's manned space flight program and maintaining our civilian solid rocket motor industrial base," Hatch said.
In February, President Obama announced a plan which would have ended the nations manned space flight program and Utah's solid rocket motor industrial base.
Hatch said while the bill's passage put's Utah's rocket motor in a good position, it's not a done deal.
"This is only the first step in the legislative process, but I believe it may be seen in the future as an important turning point in saving one of Utah's most important industries," he said.
The NASA Authorization bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
