The technology consulting firm Futron said most Americans don't realize how quickly competitive forces have expanded their space capabilities, with six separate nations now capable of launching satellites and spacecraft, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

While the U.S. space program boasts some of the most sophisticated devices and vehicles in space, the 2003 Columbia disaster and the approaching 2010 retirement of the shuttle fleet are taking a toll on U.S. dominance, the newspaper said.

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin said the agency's inflation-adjusted budget is down 20 percent since 1992, the Post reported.

"We spent many tens of billions of dollars during the Apollo era to purchase a commanding lead in space over all nations on Earth," Griffin told the newspaper. "We've been living off the fruit of that purchase for 40 years and have not ... chosen to invest at a level that would preserve that commanding lead."

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