The rest of the center needs another $114 million in improvements for its shuttle support buildings. Other NASA field centers dealing with the shuttle require about $286 million in modernization.

But NASA's independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said the work often gets pushed back to deal with pressing budget needs. The panel recently released its annual report, which again raised concerns about safety.

"We are sounding the warning that shuttle and (the space) station cannot do more with less," ASAP Chairman Richard Blomberg said. "They are at rock bottom."
Originally built to house and assemble the massive Saturn 5 rockets, which took astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the building has seen better days.

Recent years have seen minor stop-gap additions to the Vehicle Assembly Building such as temporary ceilings that catch flaking concrete before it falls on shuttles and other equipment, Wetmore said. Rebuilding the roof would cost $26.5 million and take about five years.

Wetmore said the problems are manageable.

"But at some point you have to make an investment," he said.

NASA spends about $30 million a year maintaining equipment at Kennedy Space Center. KSC gets most of the attention because it maintains $2 billion worth of shuttle facilities, not to mention four irreplaceable orbiters.

The committee told the agency KSC's facilities would not last through the shuttle fleet's lifetime unless the buildings are modified. Many expect the 21-year-old spacecraft to fly through 2020.

Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Palm Bay, said Congress may be willing to pump up NASA's budget to cover the infrastructure repairs, but only if the agency asks for the funding. Last year, for example, budget writers in Washington added $25 million to the agency to pay for repairs on the Vehicle Assembly Building doors.

"We really need to turn the corner this year and for another year or two down the road," Weldon said.

Wetmore said NASA would try to wring repair funds out of its current budget.