Posted: Tue, Jan 13, 2004, 1:35 PM ET (1835 GMT)
On the eve of the expected announcement of a new national space initiative, several members of the Bush administration have told the media that the plan will be affordable. Treasury Secretary John Snow told an ABC News program Sunday said that any new space initiative would be undertaken "within a framework of fiscal responsibility." In a separate interview Sunday on CNN, Commerce Secretary Don Evans said that any program would be "within a responsible fiscal budget." Some, including a few Democratic Presidential candidates, have criticized the President for proposing a big new, and presumably expensive, project, with some estimating the cost of an effort to send humans to the Moon and Mars at up to $1 trillion. That figure was criticized by NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, who told MSNBC that the $1-trillion figure was "dead wrong", but declined to offer a more accurate estimate of the cost.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  MSNBC article