From: Larry Klaes (lklaes@bbn.com)
Date: Tue Jul 27 1999 - 11:10:09 MDT
Look at what our so-called representatives in the
United States Government have done to our future in
space!
At least in principle, they are supposed to serve
the needs of the people - so let them know how you
feel about this backward leap for mankind. Rail
against the dying of the light of knowledge and
progress, to paraphrase a poet.
Perhaps we should take a cue from SETI when its NASA
project funding was cut off by the US Government in 1993:
Go Private. It may not be as easy at first, but if we
let the ignoramuses continue to control the purse strings,
we will have no choice in the matter, unless we want to
see our future fade away.
Here are some relevant articles on the subject.
I have reproduced the SpaceViews article in full
so you can see exactly what may be lost here.
http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/index.htm
http://www.reston.com/nasa/watch.html
http://www.spaceviews.com/1999/07/27a.html
House Committee Approves "Devastating" NASA Cuts
Published: 1999 July 27
12:12 am ET (0412 UT)
A House appropriations subcommittee
approved a bill late Monday, July 26,
that would cut NASA's year 2000 budget
by nearly 10 percent and essentially gut
NASA's space science programs.
The House Appropriations Committee subcommittee for
Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and
independent agencies approved legislation that would cut
NASA's fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget to $12.3 billion, $1.3 billion
below the President's original request and $1.4 billion below
the 1999 budget.
The budget cuts approved by the committee had a
disproportionate impact on earth science, space science, and
aeronautics. Complete numbers were not available by late
Monday night, but it appeared that up to $800 million of the
$1.3 billion in cuts would hit these programs.
Several projects were outright canceled by the committee's
cut, including the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF),
Triana, and the Contour Discovery-class comet mission. The
cuts also killed future missions for the Earth Observing System
and the LightSAR Earth-observing radar.
The committee also approved deep cuts in NASA Explorer
and Discovery programs that would effectively kill future
missions, such as the recently-selected Messenger and Deep
Impact Discovery-class missions. Also sharply cut was funding
for NASA's Mars exploration program, all but killing Mars
missions beyond the 2001 programs.
Other NASA projects that would could be cut back or killed
by the planned cuts include the Gravity Probe-B mission to
study general relativity, the Stratospheric Observatory for
Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft, and other smaller
spacecraft missions, as well as future missions to Europa and
Pluto.
While space and earth sciences suffered the brunt of the cuts,
the space station program survived relatively unscathed. Its
FY2000 request was cut by just $100 million, which still results
in a $100 million increase over 1999. The space shuttle program
is also likely to suffer only minor cuts.
Full budget figures are expected to be released Tuesday and
throughout the week.
NASA has already been tightening its budget belt,
announcing in June that it was cutting funding for the Deep
Space 4 "Champollion" comet lander mission. Cuts in funding
for extended mission programs had also been discussed.
Reaction against the proposed cuts was swift and sharp.
"We're talking about gutting space exploration," NASA
administrator Dan Goldin told the Associated Press.
"The space science cuts are the most devastating in NASA’s
history and effectively curtail space exploration after 2001," said
Lou Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society. "It’s
an irresponsible budget that does terrible harm to America’s
future."
"If the House is truly serious about these cutbacks, it should
hold hearings to allow for public comment," Friedman said.
"At a minimum, a full and open debate about alternatives to
ending the American role in space exploration should be held."
Rep. James Walsh (R-NY), chairman of the subcommittee,
tried to be apologetic about the cuts and told the AP that he
would "make every effort to address these difficulties" later in
the year. "This is only the beginning of the process," he said.
"We're at about the bottom of the third in a nine-inning ball
game."
However, the Senate is considered likely to approve similar
cuts in NASA's budget when it considers its own version of
appropriations legislation in the near future.
The reason for the cuts is a set of spending caps that
Congress and the President agreed to in 1997 in an effort to
reduce the budget deficit. Ironically and perversely, this most
stringent set of spending caps yet comes at a time when
Congress and the President are debating what to do with a
projects budget surplus that will be in the dozens of billions of
dollars for 1999 alone.
"Given the previous lack of concern for NASA's declining
budget by the White House, this further proposed cut...
amounts to nothing less than a repudiation of the value of
America's space program in general, and space science and
aeronautics in particular," noted Keith Cowing, editor of the
NASA Watch Web site.
"What a wonderful way to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of Apollo 11."
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