Denver Post -- NASA chief says space shuttle may be flying again this year:

No project is more audacious than Prometheus, a multiple-orbit exploration of Jupiter's moons. O'Keefe said the project will prove that NASA can operate a spacecraft with nuclear power, which could provide enough juice to arrive at distant targets more quickly.

But do the public and Congress have enough trust in NASA to make that giant leap?

"We've operated nuclear reactors much bigger than the one we're talking about being on this little, bitty spacecraft ... every single day, every day of the week, 24/7, all around the globe in the form of nuclear reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers," O'Keefe said. "And we've never had an incident."

Space.com -- Congress Mulls NASA Budget:

The subcommittee also appeared to be in favor of NASA’s Project Prometheus, the effort to develop a nuclear engine for next-generation spacecraft. The agency plans to spend $93 million on the project in 2004 and $2.07 billion over five years.

Orlando Sentinel -- O'Keefe assures lawmakers of NASA's resolve

O'Keefe said the budget, and an accompanying blueprint for the next several years, is a "steppingstone" approach to set up long-term goals. His biggest proposal, dubbed Project Prometheus, calls for spending $3 billion during the next five years to develop ways to convert nuclear fission into electrical power needed to send spacecraft deeper into space.