WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told U.S. lawmakers that spending more on the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule would not allow the government-owned vehicles to make their debut any sooner than 2017.

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Dan Leone is the NASA reporter for SpaceNews, where he also covers other civilian-run U.S. government space programs and a growing number of entrepreneurial space companies. He joined SpaceNews in 2011.Dan earned a bachelor's degree in public communications...