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U.S. Senate Committee hears submissions on NASA's 2013 budget request & U.S. space program The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has been hearing submissions regarding NASA's 2013 budget request and on the priorities, plans and progress of the U.S. space program. Witnesses appearing before the Committee on March 7 included Charles F Bolden Jr, NASA's Administrator, and Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and well known commentator on space exploration. Bolden, who flew on four space shuttle missions after a career in the Marine Corps, was appointed to lead NASA in 2009 after being nominated by President Obama. Administrator Bolden outlined the space agency's achievements in 2011 and updated the Committee on the status of current missions. His statement outlined how the requested budget of $17.7 billion for 2013 would be allocated and concluded by stating: "NASA's FY 2013 budget request of $17.7 billion represents a substantial investment in a balanced program of science, exploration, technology and aeronautics research. Despite the constrained budget environment facing the Nation, this request supports a robust space program that keeps us on a path to achieving a truly audacious set of goals. NASA is working to send humans to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, to observe the first galaxies form, and to expand the productivity of humanity's only permanently-crewed space station. We are making air travel safer and more efficient, learning to live and work in space, and developing the critical technologies to achieve these goals. The coming year will include the first commercial cargo flights to the ISS, a nuclear powered robot the size of a small car landing on the surface of Mars, and the launch of the Nation's next land observing satellite. We have spacecraft studying the Sun, circling Mercury, cruising to Pluto and investigating almost everything inbetween. In the face of very difficult times, the American p

29March 2012 (Staffordshire) - A NN and Ewan Munro have not sat idle during the eight years in their home at this surprising semi. The couple has put in a new high efficiency gas combi boiler, rewired throughout, put in a new fitted kitchen with proper slate tiling laid there and in the hall, hung new doors, installed double glazing, put in a new bathroom with a Jacuzzi spa bath, created a loft room, planted a magnificent garden and created a driveway for several cars. The result is that the property at 108, Harrison Road, Norton, is a genuinely surprising and very appealing family home ready to be moved into tomorrow. My first impression of the house is that it is very light. Ewan knocked down a stud wall erected by the previous owner so the lounge and diner are now one room stretching more than 26 feet. With sliding patio doors at the back overlooking the garden and glass panelled doors from the hall and the kitchen and a generous bay window at the front as well, the room is flooded with light. It is also the perfect place for Ann to sit and watch her garden and its visitors. She says: "It is full of life and colour. Squirrels come and feed here and when it is in bloom it is like having the countryside in the back garden. We only know we have neighbours for four months of the year because when everything is in leaf it is just a riot of colour.'' The modern fitted kitchen has a range of Shaker style base and wall units, all the usual facilities plus space for a washing machine and tumble dryer and a double glazed door to the drive at the side and back garden. There is understairs storage in the hall and more on the landing. Upstairs the master bedroom at the back of the house has mirrored built in wardrobes, there is a second generous bedroom and the third can be used as either a study or as a single and the couple say there has been bunk beds in there too. Above them is a real surprise and delight feature because the loft has been c