spacetoday.net: President signs NASA authorization bill

Posted: Fri, Oct 17, 2008, 11:36 AM ET (1536 GMT)
NASA

President Bush signed into law this week authorizing legislation for NASA that, among other things, directs NASA to carry out another shuttle flight to the ISS. The NASa Authorization Act of 2008 (HR 6063) was passed by Congress last month and formally signed into law by the president on Wednesday. One of the key provisions of the bill is that it directs NASA to "take all necessary steps" to add one more shuttle flight to the manifest of remaining missions in order to carry a scientific experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, to the ISS. The legislation also authorizes $20.2 billion in NASA spending for fiscal year 2009, although NASA is likely to receive significantly less when and if a final FY2009 appropriations bill is approved by Congress. The legislation also endorses NASA's exploration program and includes a number of other provisions, including requests for reports and studies of various agency activities.