Posted: Mon, Feb 4, 2002, 12:28 PM ET (1728 GMT)
The proposed fiscal year 2003 budget released by the Bush Administration Monday morning includes $15 billion for NASA, approximately the same as in 2002 but with several key changes. The budget would add over $800 million to science, aeronautics, and technology programs, largely at the expense of the International Space Station and other human space flight programs, excluding the shuttle. The budget proposal calls for the creation of a new "New Frontiers" space science mission program to replace the existing Outer Planets Program. The proposal also calls for "competitive sourcing" for the shuttle program, including the full transfer of shuttle operations and some infrastructure to a private entity. The proposal does not recommend the closure of any NASA field centers, but does ask that some activities at NASA's Ames Research Center in California be transferred to a university-affiliated research center, and possible consolidation of NASA facilities with military installations. The budget proposal also calls for efforts to increase the amount of time available on the station for scientific research as the space agency works to reform the overall ISS program. More details about the NASA budget will be released later today at a NASA press conference.
