Tim Furniss/LONDON
NASA has been instructed by the Bush Administration to make deep cuts in the International Space Station (ISS) programme, in a bid to reduce a cost overrun of at least $4 billion over the next five years.
As a result of the cuts, the space agency is likely to order the scrapping of the US Habitation Module, the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) and a propulsion module.
Once the Node 2 has been attached to the ISS in 2003, to allow the addition of European and Japanese modules, NASA's part in the assembly will be ended.
Loss of the CRV places the responsibility on Russia for supplying the Soyuz TM emergency return vehicles. Only one of these may now be required because the planned maximum seven-crew complement is likely to be reduced to three.
Russia's planned future components for the ISS, including a propulsion system, are already well behind schedule and no one is certain when they will be launched.
Much of the science potential on the ISS has also been lost through the axing of materials science research equipment set for the Destiny laboratory module.
Upgrades to the Space Shuttle will continue, but missions will be reduced to six per year. With fewer ISS crews and fewer Shuttle flights, the NASA astronaut corps is also likely to be reduced. President George W Bush has called for an external review of the ISS to validate cost estimates and requirements. Another result of the Bush review will be the abandonment of the proposed Pluto Kuiper Express mission to explore the final planet in the solar system and objects beyond. A Solar Probe has also been axed. The cuts come despite NASA being awarded a 1.5% increase in its draft 2002budget to $14.5 billion.
Source: Flight International
