Sep 18 2002
From The Space Library
The National Research Council (NRC), the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, released a report on the ISS, outlining NASA's efforts to limit cost overruns on the project. The report concluded that, if NASA proceeded with its plans to halt construction, once the ISS's core was complete, and to limit the station's crew, equipment, and other components, the ISS would be unlikely to become a first-class laboratory. NRC reported that capping the crew to three persons would have a highly detrimental impact on the quality of scientific research conducted on board the ISS, because a crew of such a small size would have to devote most of its time to station maintenance and operation. In addition, NRC stated that NASA had made its decision to cancel or delay equipment for experiments without assessing scientific priorities or determining which research plans the curtailments would affect most. NASA's official representative responded that NASA was committed to building the ISS beyond the core-complete stage. Moreover, NASA intended to continue developing the ISS based on decisions concerning the station's scientific priorities and planned to take any steps necessary to achieve those goals~ for example, increasing the size of the station's crew. (Warren E. Leary, “Cuts Lessen Space Station's Value to Science, Report Says,” New York Times, 20 September 2002.)
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