The fiscal 2003 US budget proposal unveiled Monday by the administration of President George W. Bush will force the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to control its spending and will reduce allocations for manned space flights by nearly 700 million dollars.

Bush is asking Congress to give NASA 15 billion dollars next year, which represents a nominal 1.4-percent increase over this year.

But if adjusted for inflation which is expected to exceed two percent, the proposed funding represents a real-term decrease.

The budget “reflects the administration’s commitment to this agency’s core research efforts and its fundamental mandate to advance aeronautics and aerospace science,” said NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe.

“The administration has chartered a fiscal course for the future that asks NASA to look at the way it does business, identify improvements in management and performance,” he added.

The space shuttle and International Space Station programs will be the first to be hit by the proposed cutbacks: the administration calls for spending on manned flights 6.1 billion dollars in 2003 versus 6.8 billion dollars in 2002.

The International Space Station budget will be reduced to 1.49 billion dollars from 1.72 billion in 2002.

Funding for shuttle flights is expected to go from 3.27 billion dollars this year to 3.20 billion in fiscal 2003.

However, allocations for space research are bound to increase from 2.86 billion dollars to 3.41 billion.

NASA Administrator Statement
Meanwhile the following statement was issued by the new NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe regarding the Administration’s 2003 budget proposal.

“The President’s budget proposal of $15.1 billion for fiscal year 2003 reflects the Administration’s commitment to this agency’s core research efforts and its fundamental mandate to advance aeronautics and aerospace science.

“From developing safe, more powerful and more efficient space transportation systems to pioneering the frontiers of flight and knowledge, NASA is the world’s premiere aerospace agency. We have the freedom and the people to dream big, and then are given the enviable task to make those dreams into reality.

“But it’s not enough to make promises about the future. We have to live up to the President’s Management Agenda, which asks us to responsibly live up to those promises.

“The Administration has chartered a fiscal course for the future that asks NASA to look at the way it does business, identify improvements in management and performance, and continue to build on the agency’s core foundation of science and technology research.”

Additional information about NASA’s FY 2003 budget and the President’s Management Agenda is available on the Internet at: