Panel supports commercial space

The Augustine panel published its final report on Thursday and said America could find cheaper, faster successors to the shuttle in the private sector.
The US space agency is developing two new rockets and a crew capsule.
But the committee has told President Barack Obama that these systems no longer meet the US's immediate needs.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington DC, lead members of the panel said that if crew transport services to the International Space Station were passed to the private sector, it would free Nasa to work on more difficult and more exciting objectives.
"We think this is a time to create a market for commercial firms to transport both cargo and humans between the Earth and low-Earth orbit," said Norm Augustine, the panel chairman and a former CEO of Lockheed Martin.
"While that is certainly not simple, it is much easier than going to Mars. We think Nasa would be better served to spend its money and its ability - which is immense - focusing on going beyond low-Earth orbit rather than running a trucking service to low-Earth orbit (LEO)