http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14066676/

"NASA is considering shutting down all the research programs it conducts aboard the international space station for at least a year to fill a projected budget shortfall of up to $100 million, a top station manager said Thursday.

Space station research was already slashed to just over $200 million last year to help the U.S. space agency pay for Hurricane Katrina losses and cost overruns in the space shuttle program. Less than $100 million was requested for station research for the year beginning on Oct. 1."

The research was all about issues to do with human survival(radiation, gravity) in space as it was. Remind me again what the point of the ISS is. It has been and continues to be a giant welfare program for aerospace companies, and a sick reason to have kept the (obsolete) shuttle going. Shuttle and ISS operations have continuously been advocated on the basis of misrepresentations, false promises, and faulty budgets. I don't even want to look up what the total costs for ISS and shuttle operations have been. It makes me too sick to think about what that money could've achieved in viable lines of exploration and research.

Whatever research has been achieved within the purview of ISS building and operation has been miniscule for the money. I would venture to say the same research could've been done for .1% of the cost.