NASA Extends Space Shuttle Till February; Kosmas Wants More

NASA today announced that it would extend the Space Shuttle program until "at least" February 2011.

That's welcome news to Florida's Space Coast, which has been bracing for the loss of up to 15,000 direct and indirect jobs with the shuttle's retirement. Initial plans called for the program to end in September.

U.S. Rep.Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, hailed the decision as a "welcome development," but added:

"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."

Kosmas said, "We must move forward with a plan for NASA that preserves our highly skilled work force, supports the development of commercial space flight, and utilizes investments weve already made to develop a next-generation vehicle."

Kosmas has introduced the Human Spaceflight Capability Assurance and Protection Act to extend use of the International Space Station through 2020, allow NASA to continue flying the shuttle, and push to accelerate a next-generation NASA-developed space vehicle.