'US spends more on pizza than on space missions'

Kolkata, May 3 (IANS) With the US government cutting the budget for space missions, former NASA astronaut Marsha S. Ivins Thursday said her country loved to spend more on pizza than on space exploration.

"Decisions on space programmes are political. It is on the party which is in power to decide on the budget of space missions -- whether to send out space missions or not," said Ivins, who has been on five space missions.

The 61-year-old was here to interact with students.

"We don't spend a lot of money on space programmes. In US, we spend more on pizzas every year than on our entire space programme. The amount may sound large but if you compare it to the spending in other sectors, it is relatively small," she said.

Ivins said future space missions should be aimed at the moon because it takes three days to go there and it was easier to reach Mars from the moon.