Upcoming NASA missions will be delayed or cancelled due to recent cuts in the agency's new budget, according to The New York Times. The affected missions are planned scientific research missions.
Delays come after promises that "not one dime" of funding would be taken from President George W. Bush's goals of a future manned mission to the moon and Mars.
The cuts will affect missions to find other hospitable planets in the galaxy, to recover a sample of Mars to study and to explore Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said the agency needs money to maintain space shuttle operations and build the next generation of space shuttles.
Griffin defended the cuts, saying putting off shuttle operations would be more detrimental than delaying unmanned research missions.
The delayed missions could go forward in the future if Congress increases NASA funding. Despite this option, some claim NASA's scientific research mission is being forgotten.
"The bottom line: science at NASA is disappearing - fast," said University of Chicago astrophysicist Donald Lamb.
