Senators grill NASA chief on exploration plans, budget reality

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. -- the only current member of Congress to have gone into space -- strongly questioned NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe Wednesday about whether President Bush's announced plans for manned space exploration are feasible given current budget constraints.

Bush earlier this month called for a return by astronauts to the Moon by 2020, with manned missions to Mars beyond that, and plans to request a $1 billion increase in NASA's budget over the next five years while diverting $11 billion from existing NASA projects.

"I would hope members would examine that budget before making judgments on its adequacy or efficacy," O'Keefe told the committee.

But Nelson, who was a crew member on a 1986 space shuttle flight, said, "You can't do it on the cheap, and I just don't think a billion dollar increase over five years -- that's $200 million a year -- is going to do it."