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2.07.2006

Money for NASA 2007

I was going to analyze in great depth the $16.8 billion spending plan for NASA in the $2.77 trillion budget President Bush yesterday sent to Congress, and report here on the ins and outs of the space agency's cut, but then I remembered that as much as I enjoy and perhaps know a tiny bit (not much) about things like law, politics, business, science or maybe some other stuff (but probably not any of the above), I have to come right out and say it, I hate budgets, what's more, I am not even in fact positive that I quite understand what a budget actually is.

Thank goodness for blogspace. Start at NASA Watch where Keith Cowing, who some people think invented NASA, put up links to
budget information and details, along with Mike Griffin's statement, in which the administrator, noting that "NASA's budget is roughly 0.7 percent of the overall federal budget," says, inter alia,
This budget demonstrates our national commitment to implementing the Vision for Exploration. It balances NASA's mission to complete the assembly of the International Space Station and fulfill our international partner commitments, while using the minimum number of Shuttle flights to do so. It supports our goal of bringing the Crew Exploration Vehicle online no later than 2014, and potentially much sooner. It provides over $5.3 billion in funding for NASA's science missions and over $724 million for aeronautics research. The FY07 budget also provides almost $500 million for cross-agency support programs, such as science and math education, innovative partnerships for NASA to leverage commercial industry, and development of the unified agency-wide management systems to get NASA's finances in better order.

Pros and cons of the budget? Yes and yes. Head over to Space Politics where Jeff Foust, who could walk you through the process in his sleep, covers the budget with a first look, and more details, along with a roundup of Congressional reaction, lobbying efforts and space groups' reactions. For starters.

And Clark Lindsey is all over it too, of course, with
more reactions to the proposed budget.

Now if you'll excuse me, all this budget talk makes my head spin. I'm going over to
Sploid for something a bit lighter. Back later.


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Update: Don't forget reaction in local media covering impact to NASA field centers.



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