NASA mulls mothballing US space station research

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA is considering
shutting down all the research programs it conducts aboard the
International Space Station for at least a year to fill a
projected budget shortfall of up to $100 million, a top station
manager said on Thursday.

Space station research was already slashed to just over
$200 million last year to help the U.S. space agency pay for
Hurricane Katrina losses and cost overruns in the space shuttle
program. Less than $100 million was requested for station
research for the year beginning on October 1.

NASA Deputy Space Station Program Manager Kirk Shireman,
asked if it was true as reported on the NASAWatch.com Web site
that the agency was considering shutting down its research for
a year or more for budget reasons, or would pursue other steps,
said, “All those things are under consideration.”

“Right now, we’re quite a bit in the hole,” told a news
conference. “We’re looking at a number of options.”

The shuttle this month successfully demonstrated NASA’s
$1.3 billion investment in safety upgrades following the 2003
Columbia disaster. The shuttle fleet is set to resume flying
four or five missions a year until its retirement in 2010 to
complete assembly of the half-built $100 billion station.

The next flight is set to launch as early as August 27,
NASA said on Thursday.

When implementing more than $300 million of station cuts
last year, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin told Congress it was
more important to get the station built than spend money for
research.

Some critics said NASA’s proposal to eliminate station
research entirely for 2007 might be going too far.

“I’m startled that they would even discuss this with a
straight face given that this would be dead-on-arrival in
Congress, which has put it into law that it supports station
research,” said Keith Cowing, who runs the privately funded
NASAWatch.com.

Under the plan, NASA would resume funding station research
in 2008 or 2009, although start-up costs could be high.

“We’re looking at what the implications are,” Shireman
said.

CHANGE OF FOCUS

NASA changed its focus after President George W. Bush
decided in January 2004 to direct the country’s human space
program back to lunar exploration, with the intention of
eventual missions to Mars.

The decision followed the recommendations of the board
investigating the Columbia accident, which killed seven
astronauts, that the shuttles needed to be completely
recertified for flight by 2010 or retired.

Rather than researching materials, fluid physics and other
basic microgravity phenomena, NASA decided to fund only those
programs that had a direct bearing on human spaceflight beyond
low-Earth orbit, which is where the space station and the space
shuttles fly. Funding for radiation studies, for example, was
to be a key part of the U.S. station research program.

“Cutting science programs would suggest that it is merely a
joy ride to the moon,” said Katie Boyd, spokeswoman for Alabama
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. “It would mean that we as a
national have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars.”

One part of NASA’s budget that has been growing is the
amount of money set aside for congressionally mandated
programs, most of which benefit the lawmakers’ home districts.
Since 2001, NASA has been saddled with $3 billion in bills for
pet programs, according to NASA budget and congressional
records.