Senate Panel Adds NASA Money to Spending Bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday backed a $94 billion 2005 spending bill which included an extra $800 million to fund space projects next year.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill funding the Departments of Veterans Affairs and House and Urban Development after unanimously adding in the money for NASA.

Total funding for the space agency in the Senate version of the bill now totals $16.4 billion, an increase over 2004 levels. This compares to $15.1 billion in the House version of the bill, which would be a cut from the current year.

The House has not yet passed its version of the bill. Any differences in the two versions will have to be worked out.

President Bush had asked for $14.9 billion for NASA.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland, said NASA needs to the money to carry on with space shuttle flights.

"In order to fly this shuttle safely, this additional funding is necessary," she said.




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Senate Panel Recommends Funding Boost for NASA

WASHINGTON -- NASA�s vision for space exploration received a boost in the Senate Sept. 22 when a budget panel approved $16.38 billion for the agency for next year, $200 million more than the White House requested.

The Senate Appropriations Committee had been poised to recommend providing just $15.579 million for NASA next year, $200 more than the agency�s 2004 budget and some $665 million less than the White House requested. But an amendment offered by Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) to add $800 million of so-called emergency funding for the space shuttle program and a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission was approved, resulting in the higher number.

The space shuttle program would receive $500 million of the added funding to help defray the cost of returning the fleet to flight status. The remaining $300 million would go toward the early planning for a robotic mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Including the emergency funding, the Senate bill would provide a total of $4.8 billion for the space shuttle program. The international space station would get $1.6 billion, about $120 million less than NASA asked for in its request, which was sent to Congress in February.

Senate appropriators also approved $268 million for NASA to get started on the Crew Exploration Vehicle and $20 million to begin designing of a robotic lunar exploration mission. Both projects are priorities under the space exploration vision laid out by U.S. President George W. Bush in January.

www.space.com...

Its a step in the right direction.

Yeah, should cover any money lost on failed missions. A little insurance never hurts.

Originally posted by Weller
Yeah, should cover any money lost on failed missions. A little insurance never hurts.

I completely disagree.

Wheres the motivation?

Think about it, if Nasa pays you 100k a year to work on a probe and 1 billion goes into making this probe and if fails, you still get to keep your money, but you also want Nasa to be reimburst for there loss, thats crazy. That wont give them any incentive.

Originally posted by Murcielago
I completely disagree.

Wheres the motivation?

Think about it, if Nasa pays you 100k a year to work on a probe and 1 billion goes into making this probe and if fails, you still get to keep your money, but you also want Nasa to be reimburst for there loss, thats crazy. That wont give them any incentive.

I personally believe that most people working for NASA do it for the simple love of space and science. The paycheck is a bonus.

Originally posted by Murcielago

Originally posted by Weller
Yeah, should cover any money lost on failed missions. A little insurance never hurts.

I completely disagree.

Wheres the motivation?

Think about it, if Nasa pays you 100k a year to work on a probe and 1 billion goes into making this probe and if fails, you still get to keep your money, but you also want Nasa to be reimburst for there loss, thats crazy. That wont give them any incentive.

It was a joke. I wasn't making any grand statements with it.

Cheers.

well i like it. i agree that i think most people working for nasa are there for nasa. the paycheck is a necessary thing, needed to get people to work there (otherwise theyd work elsewhere, so they can live). but if a paycheck wasnt needed, i think theyd still be working there, in fact probably more people wud work for nasa.

im always in favor of more money to nasa, and i especially like money being appropriated to help hubble