NASA’s Space Station Research in Budget Peril

NASA is considering shutting down its research programs aboard the International Space Station for at least a year because of a projected budget shortfall of up to $100 million, said a top station manager at Cape Canaveral.

Space station research was already slashed to about $200 million last year to help NASA pay for Hurricane Katrina losses and cost overruns in the space shuttle program. Less than $100 million had been requested for station research for the year beginning Oct. 1.

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.