May 3 1982
From The Space Library
An analysis of NASA's 1983 budget for research and development, prepared for Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) by the General Accounting Office (GAO), said that more than 25% of it was for military programs. The New York Times said that the report would lead to more criticism from Congress that NASA was becoming increasingly militarized, at the expense of civilian science and technology.
Proxmire said that he asked for the report to "determine the extent to which NASA was merely acting as an agent" for DOD. As nearly half the Shuttle flights would take military payloads, more than $1 billion of the $3.5 billion requested for the Shuttle in FY83 was considered military: $1.1 billion of an R&D budget of $5.33 billion (20.5%) and $400 million support funds (7.77%) could therefore be military related. NASA's total 1983 budget request was $6.6 billion; total Pentagon direct spending on space was not known but was probably as much as or more than NASA's annual budget.
Proxmire said that he did not object to use of the Shuttle for military purposes, but paying for DOD activities through the NASA budget was "not the way to ensure that dollars spent on national security are spent with maximum effect" NASA said that it had been tasked with developing the Shuttle as a national endeavor, and reimbursement by other agencies for use of the Shuttle did not change the cost to the government. (NY Times, May 3/82, A-15)
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