Feb 7 2000
From The Space Library
President William J. Clinton's proposed budget for NASA was unveiled at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The proposal contained none of the cutbacks that had driven the Clinton administration's previous NASA budgets, instead calling for steady increases in funding for space exploration over a period of five years. The key caveat, however, was that most of the increases were scheduled to be implemented after Clinton left office. Most noteworthy, the proposal set aside US$6 billion to begin research into designing a replacement for the Space Shuttle fleet. Officials hoped that NASA's plan to build a reusable launch vehicle to replace the aging Shuttles would come to fruition around the year 2005.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced that NASA would merge the Office of the Chief Technologist and the Office of Aero-Space Technology, to better facilitate NASA's technological advancements. According to Goldin, placing a range of issues, from IT operation to technology-based research, under the domain of a single leader would promote IT compatibility. Goldin appointed Chief Technologist Samuel L. Venneri to head the new Office, giving Venneri the responsibility of developing a long-term strategy to keep NASA at the forefront of technological development. Goldin also tasked Venneri with forging new relationships with companies using technologies similar to the type that NASA developed and used. Venneri had been NASA's Chief Technologist since 1996.85
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