Construction Costs May Bite Into Science

Abstract

NASA space station officials are planning to divert money that has been set aside for scientific facilities to pay for engineering problems that have surfaced in the construction of the orbiting laboratory. The move likely would delay research programs planned for the station, which will be launched in pieces starting in November 1997. It also heightens the concerns of researchers already worried about the agency's commitment to science aboard the station. “Our cynicism is well-honed,” says Claude Canizares, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology astrophysicist who chairs the National Research Council's Space Studies Board.