$40M Backs Space Industry Task Force

WASHINGTON (CN) – To help revive interest in manned space travel, and to maintain and expand aerospace employment, President Obama has established a task force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development. The task force will be backed by $40 million in interagency funds to promote development along the “Space Coast” of Florida.     The NASA administrator and the Secretary of Commerce will be the task force’s co-chairs and it will include representatives from every agency in the Cabinet.     The task force and its money will be added to a $6 billion increase to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget over the next 5 years.     NASA’s budget also includes $429 million next year and $1.9 billion over the next 5 years, to modernize the Kennedy Space Center and other nearby space launch facilities in Florida.