NASA still grappling with space station cost overrun
Posted: Wed, Apr 4, 2001, 2:44 PM ET (1844 GMT) NASA administrator Dan Goldin told members of the House Science Committee Wednesday that agency is still coming to terms with the effects $4 billion overrun on the International Space Station project. Goldin said that NASA does not have "all the answers" for dealing with the effects of the overrun, but does have "an action plan" that includes forgoing an American habitation module and crew return vehicle (CRV) and cutting back on station research resources. When asked why the surprisingly large overrun was not revealed until shortly after President Bush took office, Goldin said that NASA officials only first became aware of the potential of the overrun in September, after an analysis of costs from preceding months. By November the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was alerted of the potential of the overruns, and a final report with a "conservative, overly cautious" estimate of a $4 billion overrun was completed February 1. Goldin did confirm rumors that Italy is interested in building a replacement hab module for the station and that there have been very preliminary discussions regarding a European-built CRV. |
|
about spacetoday.net · info@spacetoday.net · mailing list |