US President Barack Obama's proposed budget gives NASA a 6 billion U.S. dollar 5-year boost but aborts early attempts to return to the moon and turns over space transportation to commercial companies.The space agency's budget would grow to 19 billion US dollars in 2011 under the proposed budget, with an emphasis on science and less spent on space exploration. But the plan ends the Constellation program, initially intended to return US astronauts to the moon by 2020. The new budget, which is subject to change by Congress, also extends operations at the International Space Station past its planned retirement date of 2016, suggesting such potential additions as inflatable space habitats. Obama's proposal hands over more space operations to the commercial sector, saying it will create thousands of new jobs and hold costs down. The budget also proposes a re-vamp of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where staff have feared major cutbacks, as part of making NASA more efficient.
