Look for the House of Representatives to soon wrap up its consideration of the fiscal year 2007 Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill – the legislation that fork’s up funding for NASA.
 
One of their recommendations includes $15 million for NASA to study and plan for a new start on a Europa mission as part of its fiscal year 2008 budget request.

The Committee also directs NASA to enter into an arrangement with the National Research Council for an independent assessment of how the International Space Station can best be used as a technology testbed in support of the stated objectives of the Vision for Space Exploration – the Moon, Mars and Beyond effort.

And for you Hubble fans, the Committee supports NASA’s efforts to plan for the extension of the life of the aging Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and maintains that the HST servicing mission should be one of NASA’s “top near-term priorities.” The recommendation provides requested funding for the HST servicing mission; however, these funds should not be used to de-orbit the big eye in space.