(Washington, DC) – Today, following NASA’s decision to extend the Space Shuttle program until at least February 2011, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24) issued the following statement:
“Today’s news that the Shuttle program has been officially extended until at least February of next year is a welcome development that will help preserve jobs and ease the transition for the Space Coast. The extension shows the importance of our successful efforts to eliminate the hard deadline for Shuttle retirement, which would have ended the Shuttle program in September of this year.
“However, our work is not done. NASA should officially add the final launch-on-need mission to the manifest and consider additional missions to fully service and support the extension of the International Space Station through 2020. And we must move forward with a plan for NASA that preserves our highly skilled workforce, supports the development of commercial spaceflight, and utilizes investments we’ve already made to develop a next generation vehicle.
“Maintaining America’s leadership in space is critical both for Central Florida and for our nation’s national security and economic interests, and I will always fight at every step of the way to minimize the human spaceflight gap and protect Space Coast jobs.”
Suzanne Kosmas has fought tirelessly to support NASA and protect jobs on the Space Coast. She has introduced the Human Spaceflight Capability Assurance and Protection Act, bipartisan legislation to maintain a robust human spaceflight program, minimize the spaceflight gap, and protect Space Coast jobs. The bill would extend use of the International Space Station (ISS) through 2020, allow NASA to continue flying the Space Shuttle, and push to accelerate a next-generation NASA-developed space vehicle.
