Bush's NASA cuts halts much research

U.S. President George Bush's goal to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 has forced NASA to trim spending for many research projects across the nation.

Astronomers, biologists and other U.S. scientists have received funding termination letters from NASA halting numerous space-related research projects at universities across the country, the Gannett News Service reported Tuesday.

The funding cuts are also viewed in alarm by scientists who fear the cuts will have a negative affect on students considering research careers.

"We are going to lose a whole generation of researchers because there is no funding to train them," Millie Hughes-Fulford, a former space shuttle payload specialist now at the University of California-San Francisco, told Gannett. "They look at people who put their life's work into NASA and see those people have no funding."

NASA has not identified which research projects have been eliminated or for which funding was reduced but officials said 236 researchers were sent termination letters.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International