USA Today Network James Dean, Florida Today 7:09 a.m. ET Feb. 15, 2017<\/p>\n
Robert Cabana, director of Kennedy Space Center, talked about the center's future as a multi-user spaceport during a National Space Club Florida Committee luncheon Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, in Cape Canaveral.(Photo: Malcolm Denemark, Florida Today) <\/p>\n
CAPE CANAVERALNASA and Kennedy Space Center are awaiting direction from the Trump administration about whether it wants to make changes to NASAs human exploration program, the center's director said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The presidential appointments team is still in the process of gathering data, Director Robert Cabana told the National Space Club Florida Committee in Cape Canaveral. We look for some direction here in the very near future. <\/p>\n
Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot has instructed teams to continue executing plans set during the Obama administration, including preparations to launch giant Space Launch System rockets and Orion crew capsules on deep space missions. <\/p>\n
Cabana said he believes the rocket and capsule, slated to send astronauts around the moon and eventually on their way to Mars, are flexible enough to adapt to new missions. <\/p>\n
Related: SpaceX targets Feb. 18 launch, landing in Fla. <\/p>\n
I truly believe the architecture that weve created, this capability-based architecture, allows us to go anywhere in our quest to explore beyond our home planet, he said. Well be able to take any kind of shift in direction. But in the meantime, our plate is full with all the things that we have to do. <\/p>\n
Those things include modernizing infrastructure such as the Vehicle Assembly Building, launch pad 39B, a firing room, crawler-transporter and mobile launch tower for the first launch of aSpace Launch System rocket. The unmanned flight called Exploration Mission-1 is planned in late 2018. <\/p>\n
The Orion spacecraft flying that mission is being assembled at Kennedy Space Center. <\/p>\n
More broadly, Cabana reiterated that space center has realized its post-shuttle vision to become a home to not only NASA, but also to commercial operations and other government agencies. <\/p>\n
What we dreamed six years ago is now a reality, Cabana said. We really are a multi-user spaceport. <\/p>\n
Related: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex plans expansion, new attractions <\/p>\n
That identity will be cemented in place even more firmly this weekend, he said, if SpaceX is cleared to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from the space center's historic pad 39A for the first time. <\/p>\n
The launch of International Space Station supplies is planned around 10 a.m. Saturday, pending approval of a launch license by the Federal Aviation Administration and other preparations proceeding on schedule. <\/p>\n
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SpaceXs Dragon cargo capsule has joined the rocket inside SpaceXs new hangar at the base pad 39A, the former Saturn V and shuttle pad that NASA in 2014 leased to the company for 20 years. <\/p>\n
Yeah, its historic, Cabana said of the upcoming launch. But its one more step solidifying what weve done, what weve put in place. What a great use of an asset that would have just sat and rusted away in the salt air. <\/p>\n
SpaceX hopes to launch astronauts from pad 39A to the space station starting next year. Boeing also plans to launch crews next year from neighboring Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. <\/p>\n
Boeing is assembling its CST-100 Starliner crew capsules in a former shuttle hangar. The company operates two more hangars for the Air Forces X-37B military space plane program. <\/p>\n
Related: Atlas V rocket blasts off with missile warning satellite <\/p>\n
Space Florida now manages the three-mile Kennedy Space Center shuttle runway, which it hopes to turn into a commercial hub for horizontal launches and landings by the likes of Virgin Galactic or Sierra Nevada Corp. <\/p>\n
At the space center's Exploration Park, just outside the centers south gate, Blue Origin and OneWeb Satellites are building large manufacturing centers for production of rockets and satellites, respectively. <\/p>\n
Everything that we said we were going to accomplish, weve been able to accomplish, Cabana said. And the Space Coast has totally turned around. <\/p>\n
The ability of NASAs own exploration systems to survive political changes, Cabana said, depends in part on the agencys ability to deliver projects on time and within budgets. <\/p>\n
And as long as we continue to do that, were going to have credibility with all our legislators, and more will be asked of us, he said. As soon as we start falling short, then people are going to start looking for a different solution to the problem. <\/p>\n
Follow James Dean on Twitter: @flatoday_jdean <\/p>\n
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