Commander Mark Kelly's Statement About Future of Space Program

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May 19, 2011, 04:03 ET

HOUSTON, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During media interviews today, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, commander of the STS-134 space shuttle mission aboard the International Space Station, made the following statement about the future of space exploration:

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"NASA is leading the way and will continue to do so," said Kelly. "We are the lead partner on the International Space Station and when humans go back to the moon and on to Mars, I'm sure it's going to be the United States and NASA that's leading that as well. As we move into more commercialization of the launch vehicles and getting access to orbit, that's still NASA that's leading that project and hopefully buying those services and this is something I think that in the long run could mean the expansion of humans accessing space. So we're pretty excited about the future for NASA."

Kelly made the statement in an interview with National Public Radio's Scott Simon.

Kelly and station astronaut Cady Coleman conducted several media interviews this morning. To view all of them, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/iqRBth

For more information about the Space Shuttle Program and the STS-134, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA