Manned-flight programs to gain at other NASA efforts' expense

Space scientists say the NASA budget rolled out Feb. 7 would leave the Hubble Space Telescope to die in orbit, while starving other space science programs to help pay for the Bush Administration's drive to send humans to the moon and beyond.

Photo courtesy of NASA

Many are worried about the future of the Hubble Telescope under NASA's new budget.

For many scientists, "the mood is deeply apprehensive," said William B. McKinnon, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, and chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences at the American Astronomical Society.

Hubble's demise could eventually cost several hundred jobs at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Officials reported no immediate threat to jobs at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The president's $16.5 billion budget proposal for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration represents an overall increase of 2.4 percent in fiscal 2006.

But the largest increases will go toward continuing construction of the International Space Station and advancing development of Constellation, a new "crew exploration vehicle" that will replace the shuttle fleet and eventually carry astronauts to the moon and beyond.

•	Manned-flight programs to gain at other NASA efforts' expense Budget would cut funding for projects such as Hubble; Hundreds of local jobs threatened Baltimore Sun, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 Byline: Frank D. Roylance