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Charlie Bolden, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, spoke as the agency prepared to launch the shuttle Endeavour on one of its last trips to the International Space Station. After Sunday's scheduled liftoff, there will be only four more shuttle missions.

"The nation needs a heavy-lift launch vehicle capability", Bolden said. "Ideally, I would like to be flying a heavy-lift capability between 2020 and 2030."

The Constellation program included heavy-lift rockets -- those that can carry large payloads into orbit. Bolden said he hoped parts of that program could be salvaged.

The Obama administration announced a new space policy last week that includes the cancellation of the Constellation moon program and the use of commercial space vehicles to serve the space station. While President Obama said his goal is to return to the moon, he was vague about how that would be accomplished.

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