The deficit could seriously delay or cripple the ambitious program unless the number of planned flights is cut virtually in half or the White House agrees to add billions of dollars to the U.S. space flight budget, the Washington Post said.

Sources familiar with ongoing negotiations between NASA and the White House say the administration has no intention of spending extra money to deal with a shortfall. Some space experts say the deficit could exceed $6 billion from 2006 to 2010 when NASA plans to retire the space shuttle for good.

The cornerstones of the Bush initiative, announced in a speech on Jan. 14, 2004, are to use the shuttle to finish the international space station by 2010, develop the crew exploration vehicle by 2014, return humans to the moon by 2020 and eventually travel to Mars.

related report
Bush signs bill to buy a Russian Soyuz
Washington (UPI) Nov. 25 - NASA can purchase a Russian Soyuz, the only spacecraft that can serve as a lifeboat for the International Space Station, under a bill signed last week.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration is permitted to purchase Soyuz through 2012. NASA had planned to build its own transport vehicle to the space station, but the project was canceled because of cost overruns, the Washington Times reported Friday.

President George Bush Bush signed this week, the Iran Non-proliferation Amendments Act of 2005, which allows the space station to continue operating with its current logistics and calls for Russia to provide 11 three-person Soyuz missions, each lasting six months, for a total of 5 1/2 years.

Under the legislation, Cmdr. William McArthur, an American astronaut currently aboard the space station, will return in April aboard the Soyuz.

Before his mission, McArthur said: "Clearly, I need to stay until my replacement shows up. I've got a lot of confidence that once I get on orbit that the station program is going to get me home."

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