Hallelujah! Senate (partly) funds the Vision for Space Exploration

[wvbraun]

<i>National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): is funded at $16.379 billion, an increase of $200 million over the FY04 enacted level, and a reduction of $665 million from the budget request. An additional $800 million in emergency funding was added for NASA during the Committee's consideration of the bill.<br /><br />-- The return to flight activities for the Shuttle program are funded at $4.319 billion, the requested level from the Administration.<br /><br />-- The International Space Station is funded at $1.6 billion. The bill reduces ISS operations by $120 million due to the continued reduced capability of the ISS for at least half of FY05.<br /><br />-- The Moon/Mars vision:<br /><br />--- The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is funded at $268 million.<br /><br />--- A lunar exploration mission is funded at $20 million.<br /><br />--- $10 million is provided for Centennial Challenges. Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NRC): is funded at $115 million, the same as FY04 and the budget request. </i><br /><br /><br />link<br /><br />Not what they wanted but more than enough to keep the program alive over the next year. I just hope the House plays along...

 

[halman]

wvbraun,<br /><br />Thanks for the info. Any American citizens reading this should make an effort to contact their House Reps to let them know that you support full funding for NASA. They will be hearing from many different interest groups, which are all asking for a slice of the pie. Remind them that making the pie bigger is the only way to keep everybody happy, and making the pie bigger requires investing in some kind of growth. Also remind them that investing in space exploration has been shown to return more for every dollar invested than any other type of investment.<br /><br />Don't expect that someone else will do it! There are many groups which write dozens of letters a year, trying to get their way. If our voice is to be heard, we have to compete with people who are making a lot of noise! Don't send e-mail! Write a letter, or make a phone call to your reps local office. (They all have one.) This is what democracy is all about, letting those who represent you know what you want. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[dreada5]

Great News!!! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Not quite over the hill yet though...

 

[meteo]

Wow!! I saw this article and let out a massive sigh of relief. Time for some more calls to the house commitee.

 

[wvbraun]

From spacetoday.net:<br /><br /><i>"The Senate Appropriations Committee used a somewhat controversial technique Tuesday to increase NASA's fiscal year 2005 budget by $200 million over what President Bush requested. The committee voted to give NASA $16.4 billion in 2005, about $200 million more than what the President requested and over $1 billion more than what House appropriators approved in July. However, $800 million of that funding comes in the form of an emergency appropriation that senators approved during Tuesday's hearing: $500 million more for shuttle return-to-flight activities and $300 million to begin work on a Hubble repair mission. Emergency appropriations are a means of getting around budget caps on programs, and their use may meet with some opposition by other members of Congress as well as the Bush Administration. Besides the emergency funding, the committee fully funded the shuttle program but cut $120 million from the ISS because of continued reductions in capability while the shuttle is grounded. The committee also cut $160 million from the Crew Exploration Vehicle effort, $50 million from robotic a lunar exploration program that is part of the Vision for Space Exploration, and $10 million from the Centennial Challenges prize program."</i><br /><br />Well, these are still deep cuts but better than nothing, i.e. the House bill. If Bush is elected everything will be fine.

 

[wvbraun]

More good news, John McCain's NASA Authorization Act is moving forward:<br /><br />Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Approves NASA Authorization Act<br /><br />I don't like that this would require NASA to operate the Shuttle well beyond 2010 but there is probably no way around this anyway. More important: If this gets through congress it will provide some protection in case John Kerry wins this November (at least that's what I understand).

 

[crowing]

If there is a change of administration,ie kerry,does that mean that this could change!

 

[CalliArcale]

Maybe, maybe not. Congress holds the actual purse strings, but the President does have veto power and has a lot of influence over how Congress decides to budget things. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>