NASA Dreams Scaled Back

The Obama administration is about to bring NASA’s ambitions back to earth: The White House Thursday will announce a review of NASA’s proposal to send its astronauts to the moon in the coming years in order to offset losses from the closing of its space shuttle program. NASA’s shuttle fleet retires next year, and there’s a five-year gap between the last scheduled flight and the first launch of the Ares I rocket, which has astronauts and other workers worried they’ll be without work in the interim. Sources say the budget’s five-year plan will reduce funding in 2013 for NASA’s moon projects, including the Ares rocket.