NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin is asking for more than $2 billion for station, but in addition to that amount, some $800 million is being shifted from other NASA spending plans to replenish station reserves depleted last year by staggering cost overruns in the Boeing module prime contract. As a result, the project will need some $200 million in additional reprogrammed, transferred money by spring or face a shutdown. For the extra millions, Goldin will need Congressional o.k. - something the Hill denied the space chief last year, fearing that programs like Space Shuttle and Aeronautics research might be unduly cut by the switch.

Goldin told a Washington news conference Monday that the money would not be moved from critical Human Spaceflight accounts, if the approval authority is granted. And he warned that if Congress refuses, "then by midyear there will be a problem with Space Station," he predicted.

Other budget highlights include approval for a space probe to orbit Europa, the Moon of Jupiter, and Future X, a long awaited research project to follow the X-33 and X-34 with advanced space launch technology that would be considered today radical concepts. NASA is also asking Congress for money for upgrades to the Shuttle launch base's Pad 39A, accelerated funding for the Earth Observing System data architecture, and a tiny amount - some $10 million - to continue studies of human trips to Mars. The budget also sets out some $400 million earmarked over the next two years for the rescue craft for the Space Station, called the CRV.

Goldin hailed his budget as a symbol of the Clinton administration's support for space. But he overlooked one truth in the claim: of all of the U.S. government's science research agencies, only NASA's numbers got cut in the FY99 requests unloaded to Capital Hill Monday. Every other agency saw increases. Maybe that was the loudest statement of all on the administration's support for space. As one critic remarked following the press coneference: "well, just how much does it take to send a 77 year old man into space these days?"

NASA at Capitol Hill Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Space

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

SPACEDAILY

Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.