Sorry for the earlier oops guys...

NASA Chief Defends Space Exploration

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nasa-05zf.html

by Jean-Louis Santini
Washington (AFP) Nov 04, 2005
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin defended his agency's need to sacrifice some existing programs to make space exploration a top priority, including a Moon landing by 2018, in testimony to US lawmakers.
"NASA simply cannot afford to do everything on its plate today," he told a hearing of the House of Representative's Committee on Science.

A victim of the government's runaway budget deficit, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over the past few years has had to scrap or delay a number of scientific research programs to fund a replacement for the space shuttle -- the "Crew Exploration Vehicle," or CEV.

If all goes according to plan, the CEV should take to space in 2012, two years after the shuttle program finishes building the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) and is retired forever.