NASA needs funding boost to fulfill goals

The panel Thursday delivered its assessment of NASA's options for the next generation of manned space exploration, concluding NASA's goals are too ambitious for the money earmarked to pay for them, the Houston Chronicle reported Friday.

"The human space flight program that the United States is currently pursuing is on an unsustainable trajectory," said the panel's leader, retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine.

President Barack Obama and Congress will use the assessment to determine whether to boost NASA's $18.7 billion annual funding by at least $3 billion or scale back programs, the Chronicle reported.

The panel suggested delaying retirement of the remaining three space shuttles by one year until 2011 and lengthening the life of the International Space Station by five years to 2020. The panel also recommended that commercial firms ferry astronauts and cargo to the space station.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.