U.S. authorizes $2.5B for 2011 shuttle operations

William Atkins
Thursday, 30 April 2009 18:30

Science - Space

If NASA’s space shuttle fleet needs one more year to finish the International Space Station, leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have agreed to provide $2.5 billion to NASA for the one-year extension of the program.


According to the April 29, 2009 Wall Street Journal article Budget Authorizes $2.5 Billion for NASA Shuttle Fleet, “Funding to maintain shuttle operations past the current deadline of December 2010 is part of the nonbinding $3.4 trillion budget blueprint passed by the House and Senate on Wednesday."

"Extra budget authority for the shuttles – which was not requested by the White House or interim leaders of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- is still subject to future House and Senate appropriations bills. But it's the strongest signal yet that lawmakers want to maintain the option of a one-year delay in phasing out the aging shuttle fleet.”

The money would be available to NASA in order to complete currently planned assembly missions to the Space Station.

The WSJ article added, “… the extra $2.5 billion is provided ‘in anticipation that the funding is needed’ to safely ‘complete the construction and equipping’ of the space station.”

To extend the missions of the shuttle one more year would increase the possibility of a major accident with the aging fleet of space vehicles. Already the risk of major problems has been stated by NASA as being greater than when the shuttles were younger.

More money made available to the Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), would in all likelihood also take money out of the pocket of the new Project Constellation.

Even if not the case, it would no doubt take employee effort away from Constellation and place it back onto the Shuttle program.

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