spacetoday.net: Senate passes NASA authorization bill

Senate passes NASA authorization bill

Posted: Sat, Sep 27, 2008, 8:48 AM ET (1248 GMT)
US Capitol

The US Senate passed late Thursday authorizing legislation for NASA that includes a provision calling for an additional shuttle flight. The NASA Authorization Act of 2008, HR 6063, cleared the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill authorizes over $20 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2009, although Congress is likely to appropriate a smaller sum for the agency when it completes its spending bills. A key provision in the bill, though, calls on NASA to "take all necessary steps" to add one more shuttle flight to the current manifest to carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the ISS. A similar version of the bill was approved by the House this summer.