Changing whims in D.C. could ground Space Center

Houston — The Houston Chronicle is reporting;  Much of the world knows Houston because of astronauts.

Neil Armstrong, Jack Swigert and other astronauts have famously called out "Houston" from space. Even Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson, after the wheels stopped on the final space shuttle flight, said "Mission complete, Houston."

This city's place in the annals of space history is thus assured. The critical question is whether Houston will play a significant role in spaceflight's future.

The view in Clear Lake, from some of the old lions of Houston's halcyon Apollo and shuttle days, is a fairly dim one. Thursday's return of Atlantis marks not just the end of the space shuttle program, they say, but perhaps the beginning of the end for Johnson Space Center.

To read more on the Space Center's future, head to The Houston Chronicle's website: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7669242.html