NASA Needs $5 Billion More for Shuttles

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NASA Needs $5 Billion More for Shuttles, Director Says The National Aeronautics and Space Administration needs up to $5 billion more than previously budgeted to operate the space shuttle before the program ends in 2010, and it is looking for ways to reduce the shortfall, Michael D. Griffin, the agency administrator, said Thursday.Testifying before the House Science Committee, Dr. Griffin said the cost of operating the shuttle fleet before it is retired was higher than expected. NASA is trying to find savings in the shuttle program to avoid hurting other agency projects, while still flying enough shuttle missions to fulfill obligations to finish the International Space Station, he said. Dr. Griffin said "painful choices" might be needed to pursue President Bush's plan to send people back to the Moon before 2020.To ease budget pressure, NASA has already announced cutting half its planned space station research, sharply reducing a program to develop nuclear power for space applications and delaying planned space astronomy missions.Representative Sherwood Boehlert, the New York Republican who is chairman of the committee, praised Dr. Griffin as making tough choices in reorganizing NASA and reducing spending during his six-month tenure at the agency. But Mr. Boehlert said NASA was still afflicted with an old problem of having more programs than money to pay for them."There is simply not enough money in NASA's budget to carry out all the tasks it is undertaking on the current schedule," he said. Mr. Boehlert said he did not see how NASA could fulfill its commitment to complete the space station, develop a shuttle replacement called the Crew Exploration Vehicle by 2012 and maintain the agency's science programs with the flat NASA budgets forecast for the near future.Representative Bart Gordon of Tennessee, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said he supported the Bush administration's "vision of space exploration," taking humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars, if money was found to do it without cannibalizing NASA's other programs in science and aeronautics."I am very concerned that this administration may not be willing to pay for the vision that it presented to the nation 21 months ago," Mr. Gordon said.Dr. Griffin said his agency would have to cancel or defer a number of programs, some of which he considered high priority, to sustain the exploration initiative. NASA should be able to resume space shuttle flights next spring, Dr. Griffin said.Agency engineers are now confident that they understand why some large pieces of insulating foam fell from the shuttle's external fuel tank during the return to flight this summer, he said, and believe they can prevent a recurrence.After the next shuttle test mission, Dr. Griffin said, he will decide whether it is safe to use a shuttle flight to repair and refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope.WARREN E. LEARY N.Y. TimesPublished: November 4, 2005

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