NASA's future includes technology to stop asteroids

HOUSTON - Protecting Earth from an asteroid is just one of the many missions NASA has in the works. Local 2's Ryan Korsgard spoke with NASA's administrator on what it has planned for the future and beyond.

One of the items on NASA's agenda is a plan that would keep an asteroid from hurling and crashing on Earth.

"I don't want to build this as a save the planet mission," said Boden.

But he hopes that NASA can get the technology that will eventually be able to redirect it away from Earth.

"We would maneuver the spacecraft, if necessary, to keep nudging it to a stable orbit point that we want to get it," said Bolden,

The technology is part of a proposed $17 billion NASA budget.

Meanwhile, at the Johnson Space Center, there's a new crew capsule being worked on. Right now, the United States relies on the Russians to safely get its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Bolden said he just signed a $450 million check to the Russian to extend the contract by one year, but once a private contractor can do it, he said he would rather spend that money at home putting Americans to work.
