Dirck Bouts paintings

Dirck Bouts paintings
Dante Gabriel Rossetti paintings

The tough economic times appear to be having a ripple effect — 200 miles above Earth.
Citing a $4.8 billion cost overrun, new NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is considering whether to extend short-term cuts in the International Space Station into long-term policy. He is expected to make a decision on the matter in a year to 18 months.At stake are billions of dollars — U.S. estimated costs have risen from about $17.4 billion in 1993 to about $30 billion today — that some policymakers and scientists argue could be better spent. But researchers say the station must continue as planned so astronauts can complete a backlog of promised research that could be critical for expanding the human presence in space."The real value we saw in the space station was the availability of human-guided, long-term research in microgravity. Now that may not happen," says Mary Musgrave, a professor of natural sciences and math at the University