Obama sets courses to conquer space

President Barack Obama set a bold new course for the future of US space travel when he announced plans to send US astronauts into the orbit of Mars within the next three decades.
The US leader on Thursday also sought to quell a storm of outrage caused by earlier administration plans, vowing before Nasa staff that he was "100 percent committed" to their mission and to the future of the US space agency.
"I believe that space exploration is not a luxury, it's not an afterthought in America's quest for a brighter future. It is an essential part of that quest," he told a crowd at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Obama made a whirlwind trip after stinging criticism of his decision to end the costly Constellation program, a project to return US astronauts to the moon.