The future looks very attractive for manned space flights, he said.
According to O'Keefe, the first Space Shuttle would soon be ready to take to the outer space again after a long break. The NASA Administrator said that his men were working to comply with the investigation commission's requirements as to the Space Shuttle's workability. He described this work as successful.
According to O'Keefe, a coupling of the Space Shuttle with the International Space Station was planned. The NASA Administrator said this flight would be a unique opportunity to study all the capabilities of the Space Shuttle.
He added that the Constellation Program, an effort to develop a manned exploration space vehicle for further study of the outer space beyond the Earth's orbit, was also making great progress.
The development is making fast progress, he said. According to him, the first unmanned prototype of the new system would be launched as soon as by 2008. Russian expertise will undoubtedly be part of the new project, he said.
In addition, the NASA Administrator said the U.S. space administration was considering inviting the Russian Aviation and Space Agency to take part in America's lunar program. He said he had discussed a possibility to engage Russian experts in the development of automatic spacecraft bound for the Moon with head of RASA Anatoly Perminov.
He said a special symposium for Russian-American space cooperation would be held in Washington in November.
