NASA Gets $19 Billion From Capitol Hill, Thousands To Lose Jobs

San Francisco (Obama.net)- The United States Congress has come together and decided to allocate $19 billion to NASA. The money is to be used to put into place a shuttle mission and invent a new vehicle for heavy lifting.

The House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the act this week, giving NASA the go ahead to continue with the plans President Obama set out for them. Now the NASA Reauthorization Act is waiting for Obama’s signature.

NASA officials came out Thursday to thank the United States government for the contributions and the newfound ability to improve the space programs.

The money that each program will get is to be decided upon after the Midterm Elections on November 2^nd.

With the act, another shuttle is expected with the extension of the current program from February 2011 to June 2011. The mission will help bring even more supplies to the international space station, which is also now going to be in existence for an extra half of a decade, until the year 2020.

However, when the program does come to an end, over 9,000 NASA workers are expected to be out of work.

In addition, approximately 1,200 employees are set to be let go this week. Most of the workers have been with the program since it started.

The United Space Alliance’s Tracy Yates said that the new bill “will not have an impact on this Friday’s layoff, but it will result in adjustments to our plans for the timing and magnitude of future workforce reductions.”

She also mentioned that the construction of the new heavy lifting vehicle “should offer promising opportunities and future work for United Space Alliance.”

The new bill is being well received throughout the space community and the United States. Many are seeing this as a chance for advancements like we have never seen before that could transform the knowledge we have of space and what we can do in it.

The bill is also expected to increase job growth in the coming years as new projects begin to be worked on. Despite the current layoffs, even more job opportunities are expected to be opened up in the near future.

With the Midterm Elections coming on soon, it is a pleasant sight to see both parties voting so strongly for the same bill. In a time of great partisanship, it is good to see Republicans and Democrats come together on at least one issue.