Nearly two years ago, President George W. Bush told NASA to help finish the International Space Station, return to the moon and then prepare for a manned space flight to Mars, reported Reuters. But that vision is crumbling as the U.S. space agency realizes it does not have the money it needs for the job. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin revealed this week the agency faced a $3 billion to $5 billion shortfall in its space shuttle program alone over the next five years. Some members of the U.S. Congress say the deficit will actually be closer to $6 billion. In addition to the troubled shuttle program, NASA has pledged to help finish the International Space Station by transporting heavy components for it on the shuttles, and to develop a new launch vehicle and spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars. Yet, a storage hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is overflowing with space station modules and building trusses waiting for shuttle rides to orbit. The three-ship shuttle fleet, which faces retirement in 2010, remains at least six months away from another flight, following a second round of safety upgrades stemming from the 2003 Columbia disaster. Research programs aboard the space station have slowed to a trickle, while dozens of projects have been canceled outright as NASA scrambles to save funds. Without a significant increase in spending, Griffin has met Bush's vision of space exploration with a plan aimed at just one goal -- landing astronauts on the moon by 2020.
