The proposed budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration includes three billion dollars to develop the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that will replace the aging space shuttle fleet by 2010, when construction of the orbiting International Space Station is due to be completed.

On the Orion project rides NASA's ambitions to return to the Moon and later send the first manned mission to Mars, but its future is at risk the House of Representatives, which has already voted to cut 677 million dollars from manned space programs in its 16.1 billion dollar budget proposal for fiscal 2007, which began October 1.

"The FY07 appropriation if active," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told reporters Monday, "will jeopardize our ability to transition safely and efficiently from the shuttle to Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Ares one crew launch vehicle."

NASA is currently awaiting Congress to approve its fiscal 2007 budget and has overshot its 16.2 billion dollar fiscal 2006 appropriation.

Both the House and Senate changed hands in the November legislative election and are now are in control of the opposition Democrats, who are apt to give closer scrutiny to proposals made by Bush and his Republican Party.

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