Posted: Tue, Feb 26, 2002, 8:13 AM ET (1313 GMT)
NASA's proposed budget is too small to build even the scaled-down "core complete" version of the International Space Station, Aerospace Daily reported Monday. The article cited a February 14 report by the Congressional Research Service that projected a $603 million shortfall in the station's budget between 2003 and 2006. Although NASA plans to compensate for the shortfall with $628 million in cost savings, the report was skeptical that those savings could be realized. The core complete ISS concept, which lacks a habitation module or crew return vehicle, was proposed by an independent commission last fall as a way to reduce the ISS's multi-billion overruns until the station management could get back on track. Since the core complete ISS would limit the crew size to three, the proposal has been sharply criticized by the international partners, particularly Europe and Canada. This topic is likely to come up when Sean O'Keefe attends a hearing of the House Science Committee on Wednesday.

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