21-01-12 Astronaut tells Huntsville soldiers NASA needs new astronauts 'desperately'

Col.Shane Kimbrough got right to the point Friday with young Army astronaut hopefuls at Huntsvilles Redstone Arsenal.Even though NASA isnt flying anything now,Kimbrough,an Army astronaut himself,said, "We do need astronauts.Desperately."Kimbrough,who flew on space shuttle Endeavor in November 2008,met Friday with about a dozen young soldiers interested in astronaut training.NASA is accepting applications from military and civilian hopefuls until Jan. 27.He said NASA needs 20 to 25 new astronauts to fill out a corps depleted by the end of the shuttle era.Where NASA had about 120 astronauts a few years ago,it now has about 50,he said.Where will the new astronauts go? For the rest of this decade,the International Space Station is "the only game in town," Kimbrough said.But he noted that NASA in Huntsville is developing the new rocket to go eventually to deep space.How will they get to space in the meantime? Right now,the only ride is a Russian Soyuz spacecraft,but Kimbrough said thats changing,too.American companies are developing new spacecraft,and Kimbrough said the astronauts are rooting for them."We all hope they are successful,so we can fly more," Kimbrough said.SpaceX,one of the companies thought to be leading the commercial space race,announced Tuesday that it will delay a planned launch on Feb.7 of its Dragon capsule,which was set to travel to the space station on a rendezvous mission.