Posted: Sat, Jul 20, 2002, 10:31 AM ET (1431 GMT)
A report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) released this week criticized NASA for poor management of the International Space Station project. The report concluded that NASA did not use cost accounting and oversight tools on the ISS that are usually applied to other projects. This allowed costs for the station to grow uncontrollably, to the point where NASA has been forced to scrap a habitation module and crew return vehicle, which will limit the crew capacity of the station to three people and sharply reduce the amount of science that can be performed there. The management lapses on the project were so bad, the report noted, that it is not possible at the present time to provide exact figures on the cost of the station because of the inability to track spending on it in recent years. The report made no recommendations since several studies of the station are in progress and will not be completed until the fall, although the report noted that the timing of those studies will make it difficult to incorporate any changes into the proposed 2004 budget.

Related Links:

•  Florida Today article
•  Houston Chronicle article