Obama orders review of NASA plan to return to moon

NASA's human spaceflight program gets top-level review

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 7 (Reuters) - The Obama administration has ordered a top-level review of the U.S. human spaceflight program that has been focused on returning astronauts to the moon by 2020, officials said on Thursday.

Former Lockheed Martin (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman and Chief Executive Norm Augustine will head a blue-ribbon panel charged with assessing NASA's progress on a space transportation system to replace the retiring space shuttle fleet.

"Clearly if we're on the wrong path, we should change, but if you're asking me do I think we're on the wrong path, the answer is no," Chris Scolese, NASA's acting administrator, said at a news conference to unveil the agency's $18.7 billion spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

The review, which is due by August, will focus on the U.S. space agency's Ares rocket program and the Orion capsule that is being designed to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as well as to the lunar surface.

Prime contractors for the shuttle replacement program include Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Alliant Techsystems Inc (ATK.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corp (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unit, which are building the new Ares rocket; and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which is developing the Orion capsule spacecraft.

The space shuttles are due to be retired by Sept. 30, 2010, after eight more flights to assemble and outfit the space station and a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope that is scheduled for launch on Monday.

The $3.2 billion budget request for space shuttle operations includes funds for an added flight to carry the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnet Spectrometer particle physics experiment to the station for installation and operation.

Scolese said the review panel also will address extending NASA support of the space station beyond 2016 and possibly the lunar initiative.

BUSH'S MOON PLANS

In January 2004, President George W. Bush announced plans for the United States to return to the moon by 2020 and build a way station there for flights to Mars. NASA's last human flight to the moon was in 1972.

The agency also is requesting $150 million to help foster a commercially developed capsule to fly crew members to the space station.

Space Exploration Technologies, a California firm known as SpaceX, has been working under a NASA contract to develop its Dragon capsule to haul cargo to the outpost. The contract includes an option for a passenger system, which NASA said it intends to exercise.

NASA's spending plan is $2 billion richer than the budget it received two years ago, largely the result of federal economic stimulus dollars.

In part, the extra funding will go toward an expanded global climate change research program, a new initiative to develop environmentally more benign aviation technologies, and new science programs including a joint U.S.-European mission to Jupiter's ocean-bearing moon Europa.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Will Dunham)

Maine becomes 5th state to allow same-sex marriage

By GLENN ADAMS
Associated Press Writer

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine's governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn't indicated whether he'll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region's sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn't previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many benefits of marriage.

Debate was brief. Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, turned the gavel over to an openly gay member, Sen. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, to preside over the final vote.

Republican Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden argued that the bill was being passed "at the expense of the people of faith."

"You are making a decision that is not well-founded," warned Plowman.

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage.

"We respect religious liberties. ... This is long overdue," said Bartlett, D-Gorham.

Maine is now the fourth state in New England, to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor's veto.

New Hampshire's House was also expected to vote on a bill Wednesday and send it to Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

Massachusetts' high court has ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass this year.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages on court orders. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

First 100 days of first lady fashion

With looks from J.Crew to Jason Wu, Michelle Obama is worth watching

BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH

aburch@MiamiHerald.com

In her first 100 days in the White House, Michelle Obama has stylistically transformed what it means to be a first lady, with a cultivated, accessible look, from basic J.Crew tees to designer Jason Wu's dreamy inauguration ball gown.

In just a couple short fashion seasons, Obama has already inspired the I-word -- iconic -- gracing the covers of magazines from Vogue to People, and becoming the subject of at least two style books due out this year; the first, Michelle Style by Mandi Norwood, debuted Tuesday. A comic book biography and a website devoted to tracking her daily ensembles have already been launched.

And she has drawn the obvious, if not clichéd, comparisons to Jacqueline Kennedy. Not since Kennedy has a first lady's fashion sense been so widely deconstructed.

''Michelle Obama will be one of history's most vibrant first ladies. She has a distinctive style that every American woman can aspire to whether the consumer is a Target shopper or someone more likely to be found on Miracle Mile,'' said Carrie Feron, vice president of Avon, which plans to release a Michelle Obama style guide this year.

From the campaign trail to the inauguration to her first few months of being first lady, Obama's fashion sensibilities demonstrate a unique understanding of the force of imagery. She has carefully constructed hers as that of an independent, contemporary woman, wife, mother -- like her or not.

Perhaps, most powerfully, she comes across as human, subject to good and bad days. Sometimes her hair is wind-swept and her outfits are remarkably ordinary. Other days, she is camera ready, from flawlessly applied makeup to tailored dresses that flatter her body type.

Obama -- who passionately supports organic diets and assisting military families -- has shunned traditional White House costumes, opting for a modern cocktail of off-the-rack staples and couture wear. She has made a signature of sleeveless sheaths, even showing her toned arms in the official White House portrait -- generating a national discourse, however irreverent, on the first lady's right to bear arms.

She has embraced obscure, emerging designers and American designers such as Wu, and Isabel Toledo, who designed the memorable lemongrass dress she wore at her husband's swearing-in. But she has also fearlessly worn ready-to-wear basics that a recession-worn nation can appreciate.

So after her first 100 days, we give Obama's fashion policy a great approval rating.