CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ The NASA Advisory Council is endorsing the idea of scaling back the international space station program, saying the huge cost overruns ``cannot be excused and must not be ignored.''
Despite the technical successes in orbit, ``the viability of the entire international human spaceflight enterprise is being undermined by a loss of confidence in NASA's ability to exercise adequate management and cost discipline,'' the council's chairman, Charles Kennel, wrote in a letter to NASA dated Wednesday.
The NASA Advisory Council is a standing body of experts that offers guidance to the space agency.
Last month, an independent task force on the space station's budget problems suggested that NASA reduce the station work force and number of shuttle flights and reorganize station management to get costs under control. The overruns are in the billions; NASA has yet to determine exactly how many billions.
Kennel said the management deficiencies identified by the task force must be resolved and will require major restructuring.
The advisory council recommended that NASA focus for the next two years on a reduced space station, big enough for just three residents. That is how many people are living up there now.
No commitments to expand the space station should be made until NASA has regained public confidence, the council added.
A lifeboat and living quarters necessary to accommodate six or seven astronauts already have been shelved by NASA, at the Bush administration's insistence.
The advisory council suggested that NASA continue to fund such components over the next two years, just in case the nation decides to move forward with plans for a bigger and better space station.
The council also said NASA has failed to make its scientific priorities clear and should do so immediately.
``Given this lack of clarity,'' Kennel wrote,'' it is not surprising that there is little public understanding of why the United States is building'' the station.
NASA said it will have no comment until senior managers have a chance to study the recommendations fully. The Senate has yet to confirm Sean O'Keefe, deputy White House budget director, as NASA's next administrator. Daniel Goldin stepped down in November.
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