About face: Obama weighs in on space

In what amounts to a political about face, Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama says he will support the development of NASA's planned Ares 1 rocket and Orion spacecraft to limit the nation's dependence on foreign countries "to the minimum possible time period."

The candidate's position is outlined in a new policy paper titled "Barack Obama's Plan For American Leadership in Space."

The plan is posted at SpaceRef.com.

The policy represents a turnaround for Obama at a time when presidential candidates are preparing for the Florida presidential primaries later this month. Considered a swing state, Florida has 27 important electoral votes and both the Republican and Democrat parties will hold primaries on Jan. 29.

Obama previously had said he planned to pay for his early education program by delaying NASA's Constellation program for five years.

You can check that out here: obama.pdf. See the last paragraph on the last page (page 15).

Opponent Hillary Clinton released her space and science policy paper on Oct. 4, the 50th anniversary of the launch of Russia's Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite. Check that out here: "Ending the War on Science."