Order Code RS22381
Updated June 23, 2006
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration: Overview, FY2007 Budget in
Brief, and Key Issues for Congress
Daniel Morgan and Carl E. Behrens
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducts U.S.
civilian space and aeronautics activities. Its FY2006 appropriation was $16.623 billion.
For FY2007, the Administration has requested $16.792 billion, a 1% increase (or a 3.2%
increase if one-time FY2006 funding for hurricane recovery is excluded). The NASA
Authorization Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-155) authorized FY2007 funding of $17.932
billion. The House Appropriations Committee recommended $16.709 billion. The key
issue for Congress is how NASA is implementing the Vision for Space Exploration,
including whether it is maintaining a balanced portfolio of programs that include science
and aeronautics. This report will be updated.
Agency Overview
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created by the
1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act (P.L. 85-568) to conduct civilian space and
aeronautics activities. NASA opened its doors on October 1, 1958, almost exactly a year
after the Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik. In the five decades
since, NASA has conducted far-reaching programs in human and robotic spaceflight,
technology development, and scientific research.
NASA is managed from headquarters in Washington, DC. It has nine major field
centers: Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards, CA; Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH; Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD; Johnson Space Center, near Houston, TX; Kennedy Space Center,
near Cape Canaveral, FL; Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, AL; and Stennis Space Center, in Mississippi, near Slidell,
LA. In addition, it has a federally funded research and development center, the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, operated by the California Institute of
Technology. NASA Administrator Dr. Michael Griffin leads a workforce of more than
19,000 civil servants and more than 40,000 contractors and grantees
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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([http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/Workforce/data/page7.htm]). More information on NASA’s
organization, including details of its four Mission Directorates (Aeronautics Research,
Exploration Systems, Science, and Space Operations) can be found on the NASA website
at [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/hq/org.html].
NASA’s FY2007 Budget Request
For FY2007, NASA has requested $16.792 billion in new budget authority (see
Table 1). For FY2006, the agency received $16.623 billion (when adjusted for two
across-the-board rescissions totaling 1.28%, a transfer of $27 million from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a supplemental appropriation of $350
million for recovery from Hurricane Katrina). The net requested increase is 1%, or 3.2%
if the one-time hurricane funding is excluded. NASA funding is appropriated in the
Science, State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill (H.R. 5672). For FY2007, the
House Appropriations Committee provided $16.709 billion (H.Rept. 109-520).
Table 1: NASA FY2007 Budget Request
($ millions)
FY2006
FY2006
FY2007
FY2007
(OMB: FY2007
(NASA: Initial
Request
House
Budget)
Op. Plan)
Committee
Science, Aeronautics, and Exploration
Science
$5,254
$5,254
$5,330
$5,405
Solar System Exploration
—
1,582
1,610
—
The Universe
—
1,508
1,509
—
Earth-Sun System
—
2,164
2,211
—
Exploration Systems
3,114
3,050
3,978
3,828
Constellation Systems
—
1,734
3,058
—
Exploration Systems R&T
—
692
646
—
Human Systems R&T
—
624
275
—
Aeronautics Research
929
884
724
824
Aeronautics Technology
—
884
724
824
Cross-Agency Suppt. Programs
367
534
492
425
Education
—
162
153
153
Advanced Business Systems
—
156
108
—
Innovative Partnerships
—
215
198
—
Shared Capabilities
—
0
32
32
Subtotal
9,664
9,721
10,524
10,482
Exploration Capabilities
Space Operations
6,578
6,870
6,234
6,194
Space Shuttle
—
4,778
4,057
—
International Space Station
—
1,753
1,811
1,778

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Space and Flight Support
—
339
367
—
Subtotal
6,578
6,870
6,234
6,194
Inspector General
32
32
34
34
Total
16,274
16,623
16,792
16,709
2005 Hurricane Augmentation
350
—
—
—
Grand Total
16,623
16,623
16,792
16,709
Sources: The first FY2006 column is from Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States
Government, FY2007, p. 272, with the grand total added by CRS. The second FY2006 column is from the
FY2007 NASA budget request ([http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142458main_FY07_budget_full.pdf]) and reflects
the program allocation of hurricane recovery funds as well as other changes made by the agency’s FY2006
initial operating plan. The FY2007 columns are from the FY2007 NASA budget request and H.Rept. 109-
520. Funding at the theme level (the finest category shown here) is not always specified in the House report.
Totals may not add due to rounding.
Notes: R&T = Research and Technology. Comparisons with years before FY2006 are difficult at anything
less than the total agency level because of repeated changes in NASA’s budget structure. The only major
change in FY2007 is the new Cross-Agency Support Programs category, which consists of the Education,
Advanced Business Systems, and Shared Capabilities Themes and the Innovative Partnerships Program.
Education was previously its own top-level budget category.
The Vision for Space Exploration
On January 14, 2004, President Bush announced new goals for NASA: the Vision
for Space Exploration, often referred to simply as the Vision or the Moon/Mars program.
The President directed NASA to focus its efforts on returning humans to the Moon by
2020, and some day sending them to Mars and “worlds beyond.” (Twelve U.S. astronauts
walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. No humans have visited Mars.) Other
countries were invited to participate in the Vision, and the President further directed
NASA to fulfill its commitments to its partners in building the International Space Station
(ISS): Russia, Japan, Canada, and 10 European countries.
The President added only $1 billion to NASA’s budget plan to implement the Vision,
out of the estimated $12.6 billion that would be needed for FY2005-2009; the rest is to
be redirected from other NASA activities. From FY2010 to FY2020, NASA’s budget
would remain level with inflation. To free funds for the Vision, the President directed
that the space shuttle program be terminated in 2010, and according to a NASA budget
chart released in conjunction with the President’s speech, U.S. use of the ISS will end by
FY2017. The Vision creates issues that center on whether NASA should be devoted
solely to human space exploration or retain its commitment to science and aeronautics.
Under the Vision, NASA is to develop a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration
Vehicle (CEV), and a launch vehicle for it, the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), with an
Earth-orbit capability by 2014 and an ability to take astronauts to and from the Moon no
later than 2020. On September 19, 2005, NASA released its implementation plan for the
Vision, setting a goal of having the CEV/CLV ready for Earth-orbit missions by 2012 and
returning astronauts to the Moon by 2018. NASA stresses, however, that this is a “go-as-
you-can-pay” program, with its pace set, in part, by available funding.
A cost estimate for the Vision as a whole has not been provided by NASA. The
September 2005 implementation plan estimates that it will cost $104 billion to return

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astronauts to the Moon by 2018, not including robotic missions or $20 billion to use the
CEV to service the ISS. (NASA plans at least two robotic missions to the Moon, the first
in 2008, to provide data on potential landing sites.)
NASA created the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) to implement
the “Moon/Mars” program. The FY2007 budget and its out-year projections would shift
about $1.5 billion from ESMD to help pay for shortfalls in the space shuttle and ISS
programs. In order to fund the CEV and CLV, NASA has significantly cut other ESMD
activities, such as Project Prometheus (to develop space nuclear power and propulsion
systems) and microgravity research on the ISS.
Key Congressional Issues
The major issue facing Congress as it debates NASA’s FY2007 budget request is
how to implement the Vision. Debate over NASA’s FY2005 and FY2006 budgets
answered the question of whether the Vision should be adopted — the 2005 NASA
authorization act (P.L. 109-155) directs NASA to establish a program to accomplish the
goals set out by the President. However, that law and NASA’s FY2006 appropriations
act (P.L. 109-108) emphasize that NASA should have a balanced set of programs that
include not only those related to the Vision, but science and aeronautics as well. As well
as the dilemma of maintaining this balance without a significant long-term budget
increase, NASA is contending with the costs of returning the space shuttle to flight status,
completing the International Space Station, and overruns in a number of science
programs.
The House Appropriations Committee, in reporting out the appropriations bill H.R.
5672 on June 20, recommended funding NASA programs at $16.709 billion, which is $83
million below the request and an increase of $422 million over FY2006 (not including
supplementals). Of this total, $3.828 billion would go to Explorations Systems, which
is to carry out the Vision program. This is $150 million less than the FY2007 budget
request for Explorations Systems.
Impact on NASA’s Science Programs
NASA’s activities in space science and earth science were merged into the Science
Mission Directorate (SMD) in 2004. On several occasions in 2005, Dr. Griffin said that
he would not take money from NASA’s space science, earth science, or aeronautics
programs to pay for the exploration vision. (This pledge did not include microgravity
science activities, such as research aboard the ISS.) Nevertheless, the FY2007 request
takes $3.1 billion from SMD over the five-year period FY2007-2011 relative to
projections in the FY2006 budget. Most of that (about $2 billion) would be used to cover
a shortfall in the space shuttle and ISS budgets. Consequently, the requested budget for
SMD increases by 1.5% in FY2007, and 1% in the subsequent four years, less than the
projections in the FY2006 budget and less than the rate of inflation. In addition, the
FY2006 Initial Operating Plan shows that NASA chose to take $176 million from SMD
and shift it to ESMD in FY2006, and to take the entire congressionally directed general
reduction ($90 million) for the Science, Aeronautics, and Exploration account from SMD.
NASA officials stress that funding for space science during the 1990s and early 2000s
grew at a rate faster than the total NASA budget and state that sustaining such increases

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was not possible. They also say that science programs account for 32% of NASA’s
budget in FY2007, significantly more than the 24% allocated to them in 1992.
A number of space science programs would be delayed or deferred because of budget
constraints. Among these are two space telescopes (the Space Interferometry Mission and
the Terrestrial Planet Finder), several robotic Mars probes, a dedicated mission to study
Jupiter’s moon Europa, research on new space propulsion and spacecraft power sources,
and the Global Precipitation Mission. Funding for Research and Analysis, which provides
grant funding to individual investigators, would be cut 15%. NASA also is reviewing the
future of the Dawn and SOFIA programs because of cost overruns and schedule delays,
not specifically the budget situation. On the other hand, the request does include FY2007
funding for missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, robotic Mars probes to
be launched at each of the next three launch opportunities (2007, 2009, and 2011), the
Juno probe to study Jupiter, the Glory spacecraft to study atmospheric aerosols and solar
irradiance, and a dedicated land remote sensing satellite to continue the Landsat series.
Information on all these programs is available on NASA’s website
[http://science.hq.nasa.gov/missions/index.html].
The House Appropriations Committee recommended an increase of $75 million
above the request for Science: $50 million additional for Research and Analysis, $15
million to initiate planning for a Europa mission, and $10 million for continued
development of the Terrestrial Planet Finder.
Impact on Aeronautics
The FY2007 budget request for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is
consistent with the out-year projection for FY2007 in the FY2006 request, but the
structure and content of the program have changed significantly.
In February 2005, NASA proposed transforming the largest element of the
aeronautics program, Vehicle Systems, by placing more emphasis on barrier-breaking
demonstrations and focusing resources on a smaller number of research areas. Among
the topics to be eliminated from the restructured program were hypersonics, rotorcraft,
and most of subsonic aeronautics. This proposal drew strong criticism from the House
and Senate committees with oversight over NASA.
In late 2005, NASA reshaped its plans for aeronautics in a manner that it described
as “consistent with direction received from our Committees.” The new plan, which is
reflected in the FY2007 request, refocused the program on core competencies in subsonic,
supersonic, and hypersonic flight, including rotorcraft. The former Vehicle Systems
program was renamed Fundamental Aeronautics to reflect its new character. The other
two programs, Aviation Safety and Airspace Systems, had their content reorganized. A
fourth program, the Aeronautics Test Program, was created to ensure the availability of
aeronautics test facilities, such as wind tunnels, whose continued viability has been under
pressure for several years. As Congress considers the FY2007 budget request, aeronautics
research supporters will likely express continuing concern over the program’s downward
funding trend. The impact of that reduced funding on the NASA workforce may also be
a continuing issue for Congress. A new National Aeronautics Policy, required by the
FY2006 appropriations act, is not due from the White House until November 22, 2006,
and so may not influence this budget cycle.

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An amendment to the Senate FY2007 budget resolution (S.Amdt. 3033 to
S.Con.Res. 83) increased the recommended funding for NASA aeronautics by $179
million. The House Appropriations Committee recommended an increase of $100
million. House report language directed NASA to report on its response to the National
Research Council’s decadal survey of aeronautics released in June 2006.
The Space Shuttle and the International Space Station
Under the Vision, NASA was directed to terminate the space shuttle program in
2010, instead of continuing the program until 2015 or beyond as planned prior to the loss
of the Columbia. The President also directed NASA to narrow the program of research
aboard the ISS to include only research needed to accomplish the Vision.
Construction of the ISS has been suspended since the loss of the Columbia; it is
approximately 50% complete. U.S.-Russian crews continue to live and work aboard the
ISS, using Russian spacecraft to take crews back and forth and resupply the outpost with
cargo. NASA currently estimates that 16 shuttle flights are needed to complete ISS
construction, with a potential 17th shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope
if such a decision is made after the shuttle’s second “Return to Flight” mission (currently
planned for July 2006). NASA has allocated $500 million over five years to help private-
sector companies develop low-cost space transportation systems that could service the ISS
after the shuttle is retired.
NASA’s FY2006 budget request included estimates (“placeholders”) for shuttle
funding in FY2008-2010 that were $3-5 billion less than what is actually needed.
Additional funds are also required for the ISS program. Thus, the FY2007 request shifts
funding into the space shuttle and ISS programs to cover the shortfall: approximately $2
billion from SMD and $1.5 billion from ESMD. Thus, although the space shuttle and ISS
are scheduled for termination over the next decade, in the near term they require
additional funding, which is being taken from science and exploration activities.
Among the issues surrounding the space shuttle and ISS programs is whether placing
a fixed termination date on the space shuttle creates schedule pressure similar to that prior
to the Columbia accident, and whether the United States wants to be dependent on Russia
to launch U.S. astronauts to the ISS during the “gap” between the end of the shuttle and
the availability of the CEV. Another question is whether ISS is worth the investment of
approximately $2 billion per year, in addition to the $4 billion per year cost of the shuttle,
considering the modest research agenda that remains. Others want to restore the ISS
research program; the 2005 NASA authorization act (P.L. 109-155), for example, directs
that 15% of ISS research spending be used for non Vision-related research. Fulfilling
U.S. commitments to its international partners, however, is seen by some observers as
sufficient rationale for continued U.S. involvement in the ISS.
The House Appropriations Committee recommended funding the Exploration
Capabilities account, which includes the shuttle and the ISS, at $6.194 billion in FY2007.
Relative to the request, this is a reduction of $41 million, of which $33 million would be
from the ISS program, in light of “the uncertainties surrounding the nature and scope of
the science to be conducted on the ISS.”

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