Failure to launch? Auditors say NASA doesn't have enough money to build big rockets on time

Federal auditors say NASA doesn't have enough money to start launching its new, $12 billion rocket program by the end of 2017 as planned.

The congressional Government Accountability Office on Wednesday issued a report saying NASA's new Space Launch System is at high risk of missing its planned December 2017 initial test flight. The post-space shuttle program would build the biggest rockets ever to send astronauts to asteroids and Mars.

The report said NASA's own officials told the GAO that there is a 90 percent chance they can't meet the launch date with current funding.

Report author Cristina Chaplain said it's not that NASA has busted its budget for the program because of technical problems. It's just that NASA didn't get enough money to carry out the massive undertaking.