I met an Astronaut today!

A veteran of 4 shuttle missions in Austin over the weekend

by KVUE News

kvue.com

Posted on July 23, 2011 at 6:03 PM

After 30 years of service, NASA's space shuttle program came to an end earlier this week.

The landing of shuttle Atlantis marks the end of an era.

Nearly eight thousand employees at NASA are being laid off, leaving the future of America's space program in question.

Doctor Richard Linnehan, a veteran of four shuttle missions, was in Austin on Saturday.

"For America to be in space goes beyond NASA's creation of gadgets that work their way into daily life," said Linnehan."When people are involved, and other people can see people and put themselves in their place-- that goes a long way into creating an atmosphere to study and getting kids primed and sparked up to learn more about math and engineering."

Doctor Linnehan said looking ahead, "he believes earth orbit flights will be turned over to commercial operations, while NASA focuses on long range missions to the moon and beyond."