Scientists, researchers feel pain of NASA budget cuts

Astronomers, biologists and other scientists across the country are learning that President Bush’s plan to send astronauts back to the moon by 2018 means less money for them now.

Dozens of researchers at universities and labs have received termination letters from NASA, canceling their projects. Some, in an expression of gallows humor, refer to the correspondence as "extermination letters."

"I received my extermination notice right before Christmas," said Roger Hangarter, a plant biologist with an extensive research program at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Hangarter’s project aimed to learn more about the role gravity plays in plant growth.

The results could have had important applications for long-term human space expeditions as well as Earth-bound crop production, Hangarter said.

But the three-year, $500,000 project was deemed expendable by NASA managers. They were forced to make difficult choices to free up funds for the space shuttle, the International Space Station and new moon exploration programs.

"It’s one of those tough things," said Carl Walz, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration official who signed the termination letters. "Had we been able to avoid doing it, we would have."

By Larry Wheeler, Gannett News Service

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-04-03-nasa-budget-programs_x.htm