WASHINGTON (AP) _NASA's books are in such bad shape that an accounting firm was unable tocomplete an audit, and officials are still uncertain about the final cost ofthe International Space Station, the space agency's leader said.

Making his firstappearance as NASA administrator before the House Science committee, SeanO'Keefe said Wednesday that officials of the accounting firmPricewaterhouseCoopers were unable to complete the agency audit because ofincomplete documentation from NASA.

O'Keefe said new government bookkeeping standards havecreated uncertainty about how some NASA investments should be classified.

``NASA books are insuch disarray that there should be a real alarm,'' said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,R-Calif. He blamed much of the problem on the Clinton administration, notingthat O'Keefe assumed his new job only a few weeks ago.

O'Keefe said NASAwill not know until late summer how much more it will cost to complete theInternational Space Station. An earlier report said that NASA faces a costoverrun of about $600 million.

In response to anindependent task force review, the Bush administration's 2003 budget reducedthe spending for the International Space Station by $229 million, a 13.3percent cut.

The budget shelvesplans to build a new spacecraft that could be used to return astronauts fromthe space station to Earth in the event of an emergency. The current``lifeboat,'' provided by the Russians, will hold only three crew members.

The budget also lacksfunds to expand living quarters to house seven crew members, up from thecurrent three.

The effect of thecuts, said Rep. Ralph M. Hall, D-Texas, is that the three astronauts on thespace station ``will be able to do little more than just maintain the station'ssystems.''

Hall said the cutbackin U.S. support of the space station has angered international partners such asCanada, the European Space Agency and Japan. The partners, he said, find thesmall crew limit unacceptable and are threatening to cut financial support.

If the Bushadministration does not fully support the station, said Hall, then it will behard ``to justify to the American taxpayers as being worth the billions ofdollars that have been invested in it.''

``We will have aspace station whose purpose seems to be little more than serving as the latest'in' destination for pop music celebrities and millionaires,'' said the Texascongressman.

A Californiamillionaire visited the space station last spring as history's first spacetourist. Several celebrities have since expressed interest in making such atrip, using a Russian craft to move between Earth and the orbiting station.

O'Keefe said hisagency is studying ways to assure that NASA complies with its internationalspace station agreements. At the same time, he said, the agency is undergoing acost analysis and will not have final answers until this summer.

``We will identifyall of the options by this summer,'' O'Keefe promised.

He said that althoughsafety concerns now limit the space station crew size to three, the U.S.astronaut corps is evaluating ways to put more people aboard.

``Abandoning thestation is considered an absolute last resort,'' said O'Keefe. Instead, theastronauts are looking at a ``safe haven concept.'' Under such a plan, therewould be a chamber or room aboard the station where astronauts could seekrefuge in event of an emergency. In effect, they could wait in the safe havenuntil they were rescued instead of leaving the station to return to Earth.