CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Engineers are poring through designs and changes to find options for a smaller space station that stays within its budget.

The feverish work was brought on by a $5 billion cost overrun in Space Station Alpha and presidential demands that NASA fix the problems without any more taxpayer money.

American modules, such as the centrifuge facility being built by Japan under a NASA contract, could also fall aside.

Winds of Change for the Space Program

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The Bush administration said NASA's obligation is to build the station up so it can support major modules from other countries. American components beyond that must be justified technically and financially.

If changes cannot be made, the station will depend heavily on Russian components to pick up the slack.

Congress has long sought to wean the station from its dependence on the cash-strapped Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

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Many in Congress blame Russia for years of delays that drove up the station's cost.

The best way to meet space station funding problems may be by modifying existing station segments to take on some of the tasks of the canceled modules.

Living out of suitcases?

For instance, one of the three cargo carriers built by the Italian Space Agency may be adapted for use as a small space habitat.

The 20-foot- (6-meter-) long cargo modules, one of which will fly next week aboard Discovery, are intended to be attached temporarily to the station to let crews transfer large pieces of equipment from the shuttle to the station.

"This is an idea that is interesting," Italian Space Agency project manager Silvana Rabbia said Wednesday. "We are working on that."

Other modules, such as two 18-foot- (5.5-meter-) long docking hubs, may also be crammed with life support equipment and sleeping areas to serve as living areas.

Making do with Soyuz

If new habitation areas are fashioned, it still would be hard for NASA to meet its goal of having seven people live aboard the outpost because it lacks an escape capsule that could accommodate seven people.

NASA wanted the $1 billion winged crew return vehicle (CRV) to serve as an emergency craft for the station.

But since it is cut from the proposed budget, the space agency will have to use Russian Soyuz capsules. The station has ports for two of the spacecraft, each holding three people.

Bob Cabana, deputy manager for the international portion of the station, said Wednesday that NASA is looking at using the Soyuz craft or flying extended shuttle missions that would leave an orbiter attached to the station for weeks at a time.

There may be no replacements for Russian modules that continue to suffer delays.

The Russian docking compartment has been delayed for months. Instead of arriving in March, it is now scheduled for August.

Cabana said the power platform of solar arrays for Russian labs is delayed and would not speculate when it or future Russian modules might arrive in space.

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