WASHINGTON -- Dealing witha $4 billion International Space Station budget overrun is the centerpieceof U.S. President George W. Bush's 2002 spending blueprint for NASA releasedtoday.

Bush's plan "A Blueprintfor New Beginnings" provides $14.5 billion for NASA -- a 2-percent increaseover 2001 -- while acknowledging approximately $1 billion in space stationcost growth in 2001 and 2002 and $4 billion for the next five years.

A Blueprint for New Beginnings

President George W. Bush"s 2002 budget plan for NASA

Among other recommendations, the plan calls for the formation of a panel to study the wisdom of transferring National Space Foundation (NSF) astronomy funding to NASA.

Meanwhile, the budget calls for some $20 billion in funding for missile defense systems over the next five years.

Bush's blueprint does notspecify a budget figure for the International Space Station -- those detailsare due out in April -- but does indicate that the troubled program willreceive "increased fundingconsistent with a strategy of constraining spacestation cost growth."

The cost growth, the budgetdocuments indicate, will be "largely offset through budget reductions inspace station hardware and other human spaceflight programs and institutionalactivities."

The major space station projectslikely to be affected include the U.S. habitation module, the crew returnvehicle (CRV), and the propulsion module.

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Space station program managementwould also shift from Johnson Space Center, Houston to NASA Headquartersin Washington under Bush's plan.

This change follows the Feb.23 ousterof George Abbey as Johnson's director.

Bush's blueprint -- the clearestindication to date of his priorities for the space agency -- stress theadministration's commitment to "permanent human presence in space, world-classresearch in space and accommodation of the international partner elements."

Under Bush's new guidance,the space station willbe considered complete "once the space station is ready to accept majorinternational hardware elements."

The blueprint also directsNASA to "aggressively pursue space shuttle privatization opportunitiesthat improve the shuttle's safety and operational efficiency." This wouldinclude reducing the number of civil servants working on shuttle by makingthem employees of United Space Alliance, the Houston-based joint ventureof Boeing[BA]and LockheedMartin [LMT]that maintains and operates NASA's fleet of four space shuttles.

NASA's Space Launch Initiative,the agency's newly begun full-courtpress to foster a potential space shuttle replacement, stands to farewell under the president's budget with a promised 64-percent increase overthe program's $290 million budget in 2001.

Other notable highlightsinclude:

• Nofunding for the Pluto-KuiperExpress and SolarProbe missions;
• A 5-percent increase for a science-drivenEarthObserving System follow-on program while discontinuing "lower priorityremote sensing and environmental application projects." No specific projectswere named;
• Elimination of "lower priorityaeronautics programs;"
• Funds for "a more robust MarsExploration program."