Feb 6 2006
From The Space Library
President George W. Bush submitted his US$2.77 trillion budget for FY 2007, which included US$16.8 billion to fund NASA, a 3.2 percent increase over FY 2006. According to NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, the priorities established by this budget reflected NASA’s commitment to implement the Vision for Space Exploration, to complete the assembly of the ISS with the fewest possible spaceflights, and to deliver an operational Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) no later than 2014. The budget provided for a reduction in funding for the Shuttle program, from US$4.78 billion in FY 2006 to US$4.06 billion in FY 2007, and a 3 percent increase in funding for the ISS, to US$1.81 billion. NASA had requested funds of US$3.98 billion for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, a 30 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. The Directorate would develop the CEV, two new launchers, and the lunar landers needed to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. NASA had estimated the cost of completing ISS assembly with the minimum number of Shuttle flights, while ensuring the safety of Shuttle flights, and had calculated a budget shortfall of US$3-5 billion. To make up this shortfall, the FY 2007 budget would cut funding for aeronautics research by 18 percent, to US$724.4 million. In addition, the budget would cap the increase for NASA’s science budget, which funded deepspace probes and Earth-observation satellites, at 1.5 percent in FY 2007, and at 1 percent annually for the following four years.
NASA, “NASA Administrator’s Statement About FY 2007 Budget,” news release 06-056, 6 February 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/feb/HQ_06056_Budget_Statement.html (accessed 10 September 2010); Warren E. Leary, “Unexpected Costs Force NASA Cuts,” New York Times, 7 February 2006; Brian Berger, “NASA Seeks 30-Percent Increase For Explorations Programs,” Space News, 6 February 2006.
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