SPACE STATION GETS A BOOST

In a 64-to-36 vote, the Senate quashed a piece of legislation that would have killed the space station project. Instead the lawmakers gave $2.1 billion to the NASA program, which aims to put a space station in orbit by 2002. Last November Russia signed on as a partner in the project, along with European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies. NASA claims the collaboration with Russia will save the U.S. $2 billion, but a study by the General Accounting Office says it will actually increase the cost by that amount. Opponents, notably Arkansas Democrat Dale Bumpers, have called the space station a "turkey" because of its huge overall expense -- about $30 billion.