The Budget for Fiscal Year 2002: Space flight, research, and
supporting activities:

Function and Program 2000
Actual		 2001
Estimate		 2002
Estimate		 2003
Estimate		 2004
Estimate		 2005
Estimate		 2006
Estimate
Science, aeronautics
and technology 		4,964 5,663 6,302 7,249 7,961 8,358 8,701
Human space flight 5,488 5,451 7,296 6,881 6,545 6,439 6,494
Mission support 2,069 2,191 — — — — —
Other NASA programs 20 23 24 25 25 26 26
Total, Space flight,
research, and
supporting
activities		 12,541 13,328 13,622 14,155 14,531 14,823 15,221

National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)

The budget proposes $13.6 billion for NASA
activities in this function. NASA serves as
the lead Federal agency for R&D in civil
space activities, working to expand frontiers
in air and space to serve America and
improve the quality of life on Earth. To
carry out these activities, NASA pursues
this vision through balanced investment in
five enterprises: Space Science, Earth Science,
Biological and Physical Research, Aero-Space
Technology, and Human Exploration and
Development of Space.

NASA’s achievements in 2000 included:
launching Terra, the first mission in the
Earth Observing System series of spacecraft;
discovering potential evidence of recent liquid
water flows on the surface of Mars from
the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft; securing
the arrival of the Shoemaker Near Earth
Asteroid Rendezvous mission at the asteroid
Eros, the first spacecraft ever to orbit an
asteroid; and continuing successful assembly
of the International Space Station in orbit.

Space Science: Space Science programs, for
which the budget proposes $2.8 billion, are designed
to enhance our understanding of how
the universe was created, what fundamental
rules govern its evolution, how stars and planets
evolve and die, how space phenomena affect
Earth, and the possible existence of life
beyond Earth. In 2000, NASA developed and
launched Hubble Servicing Mission 3A, the
Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Expansion
mission, and contributions to the X-ray Multi-Mirror
and Cluster-2 missions, with an average
one-percent cost overrun. The High Energy
Solar Spectroscopic Imager mission and the
Thermal, Ionosphere, and Mesosphere
Energetics and Dynamics mission did not
launch as planned in 2000 due to spacecraft
development issues and launch vehicle delays.
The Mars Polar Lander mission was lost when
it did not land successfully on Mars as planned
in 2000. Although scheduled to launch in 2000,
the High-Energy Transient Explorer mission
was launched shortly after the end of the year.

For 2000, the NASA Advisory Council,
an independent panel, indicated that 34 of
65 performance plan objectives and 18 of
19 science objectives for Space Science have
been successfully met. In 2002:

  • NASA will successfully complete its performance
    goal for design and development
    of projects to support future Space Science
    research. These development projects represent
    near-term investments that will
    allow future research in pursuit of the
    strategic plan’s science objectives. Completion
    will be demonstrated by a successful
    rating from the NASA Advisory Council
    or an equivalent senior-level external review
    committee. This rating will be based
    on achievement of six of the eight pre-determined
    performance objectives, four of
    which address launch readiness for the
    Space Infrared Telescope Facility, the
    Galaxy Evolution Explorer, the Comet
    Nucleus Tour mission, and the Hubble
    Space Telescope Servicing Mission 3B.

  • NASA’s annual performance goals in support
    of strategic plan Space Science objectives
    will be rated as being successfully
    met by NASA’s Advisory Council or an
    equivalent senior-level external review
    committee. Examples of these objectives
    include: learn how galaxies, stars, and
    planets form, interact, and evolve; understand
    the formation and evolution of the
    Solar System and the Earth within it; and
    understand our changing Sun and its effects
    throughout the Solar System. Each
    of these performance goals calls for obtaining
    at least 80 percent of the expected scientific
    data from operating missions that
    support the relevant science objective.

  • NASA will continue to expand the integration
    of education and enhanced public
    understanding within its Space Science
    research and flight mission programs.
    Performance objectives in support of this
    effort call for Space Science-funded education
    and public outreach activities for
    every funded Space Science mission, which
    will result in projects in at least 40 States.
    These projects will range from elementary
    schools to graduate students and post-graduates.
    In addition, Space Science will
    ensure that Enterprise-funded projects are
    underway in Historically Black Colleges
    and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions,
    and Tribal Colleges.

Earth Science: Earth Science programs, for
which the budget proposes $1.5 billion, focus
on the effects of natural and human-induced
changes on the global environment through
long-term, space-based observation of Earth’s
land, oceans, and atmospheric processes. In
2000, NASA successfully launched five spacecraft
(Terra, ACRIMSAT, the Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission, and two National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
weather satellites (GOES-L, NOAA-L)), and
delivered four instruments to international
spacecraft, with an average seven-percent cost
overrun. Launches of spacecraft expected in
2001 have been delayed: Aqua until no earlier
than July 2001, IceSAT until December 2001,
and Triana pending shuttle availability. Users
have routinely received earth science data
products within five days of receipt or production
of the requested data product.

The NASA Advisory Council concluded that
43 of 47 Earth Science performance targets
were successfully met. In 2002:

  • NASA will successfully launch and operate
    at least two of three planned spacecraft,
    IceSAT, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
    and the Solar Radiation and Cli-mate
    Experiment within 10 percent of
    their schedules and budgets. For those
    spacecraft already successfully launched,
    NASA Earth Science will obtain at least
    80 percent of the expected scientific data;

  • NASA will increase by 50 percent the volume
    of climate data it archives over the
    2001 target of 442 terabytes, increase the
    number of products delivered from its archives
    by 10 percent over the 2001 target
    of 5.4 million products delivered, and
    make the data available to users within
    five days; and,

  • NASA’s Advisory Council will be able to
    rate all near-term Earth Science objectives
    as being met or on schedule. Examples of
    these objectives include: observe and document
    land cover and land use change and
    impacts on sustained resource productivity;
    and understand the causes and impacts
    of long-term climate variations on
    global and regional scales.

Aero-Space Technology: Aero-Space Technology
programs, for which the budget pro-
poses $1.5 billion, work with other NASA enterprises,
industry, and academia to develop
and test technologies that reduce risk and improve
cost performance for future spacecraft
and space transportation systems. In 2000,
NASA initiated assembly of the X-37 flight test
vehicle. The X-33 and X-34 programs did not
perform flight tests as planned in 2000, due
to technical problems encountered during development.
Both programs have been canceled.
Depending on selections, NASA will develop
additional 2002 Aero-Space Technology goals
based on Second Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle awards in 2001. In 2002:

  • NASA will perform the rollout and begin
    test flights of the X-37 vehicle. This vehicle
    will serve as a platform on which to
    test and verify advanced technologies in
    the area of lightweight composite airframes,
    integrated vehicle health monitoring,
    and thermal protection systems.

  • The Space Base program will complete
    working prototypes of over 40 microscaled
    and low-power electronic spacecraft and
    sensor components. These components can
    lead to future science spacecraft that are
    the functional equivalent or better of current
    spacecraft but with less than one-tenth
    the volume and mass.

Human Exploration and Development of
Space: Human Exploration and Development
of Space (HEDS) programs, for which the
budget proposes $7.3 billion, focus on the use
of human skills and expertise in space. In
2000, the Space Shuttle flew four successful
missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope
Servicing Mission 3A that replaced failing
gyros on the Hubble. The Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission, a joint Department of Defense/
NASA payload to study the earth, successfully
mapped over 98 percent of the available
terrain. Two flights to the International
Space Station delivered equipment and supplies
to set the stage for future assembly missions
and to prepare for the first Expedition
crew. Improvements to the Space Shuttle system
achieved an additional 10-percent increase
in predicted reliability over the 1999 levels,
and completed the first flight of a new upgraded
cockpit. Space Shuttle operations continued
to perform well and observed an average
of six anomalies per flight, achieved 100
payloads, and achieved a 12-month flight preparation
cycle. The International Space Station
program delivered, as planned, two-thirds of
the total U.S. flight hardware to the launch
site, and also conducted successful operations
throughout the year. However, projected cost
overruns have required a major restructuring
of the program in 2002, which should control
cost growth, while enabling accommodation of
contributions from international partners. In
2002:

  • NASA will successfully complete a majority
    of planned operations schedules and
    milestones for 2002 for the International
    Space Station. For example, NASA plans
    to conduct permanent on-orbit operations
    with crew support dedicated to assembly,
    vehicle operations, payload operations, and
    early research, and conduct the first Space
    Shuttle flight to the Space Station dedicated
    to research; and

  • NASA will ensure that Space Shuttle safety,
    reliability, availability, and cost will
    improve, by achieving eight or fewer flight
    anomalies per mission, 100 percent on-orbit
    mission success for primary payload
    on-orbit operations, and a 12-month manifest
    preparation time. NASA will complete
    the implementation of the Alternate Turboprop
    to improve the safety of flight operations
    and continue safety and
    supportability upgrades to maintain Space
    Shuttle infrastructure.

Biological and Physical Research:
NASA’s Biological and Physical Research programs,
for which the budget proposes $380
million, focus on basic and applied research
to support the safe and effective human exploration
of space, as well as the use of the space
environment as a laboratory for increasing our
understanding of biological, physical, and
chemical processes. In 2000, the Biological and
Physical Research Enterprise was created as
a separate entity from the HEDS Enterprise
to provide a greater focus on biological and
physical research. The new Office of Biological
and Physical Research (OBPR) and its predecessor
organization, the Office of Life and
Microgravity Sciences and Applications, conducted
significant commercial research on the
May Space Shuttle mission to the Space Sta-
era by conducting the first long-dura-tion
experiment on the International Space
Station. In 2002:

  • OBPR will continue to build a productive
    scientific community to utilize its space assets,
    expanding agency support to approxi-mately
    1,000 scientific investigations (from
    877 reported in 1999); and

  • NASA will collaborate with the National
    Cancer Institute to develop and test cutting-
    edge methods and instruments to support
    molecular-level diagnostics for physiological
    and chemical processes monitoring.

Management Reform Goals

To fulfill the President’s commitment to
make Government more market-based, NASA
will pursue management reforms to promote
innovation, open Government activities to
competition, and improve the depth and quality
of NASA’s R&D expertise. These reforms,
described below, will help reduce NASA’s
operational burden and focus resources on
Government-unique R&D at NASA.

  • International Space Station. NASA will
    undertake reforms and develop a plan to
    ensure that future Space Station costs will
    remain within the President’s 2002 Budget
    plan. Key elements of this plan will: restore
    cost estimating credibility, including
    an external review to validate cost estimates
    and requirements and suggest additional
    options as needed; transfer Space
    Station program management reporting
    from the Johnson Space Center in Texas
    to NASA Headquarters until a new program
    management plan is developed and
    approved; and open future Station hard-ware
    and service procurements to innovation
    and cost-saving ideas through competition,
    including launch services and a
    Non-Government Organization for Space
    Station research.

  • Space Shuttle Privatization. NASA will
    aggressively pursue Space Shuttle privatization
    opportunities that improve the
    Shuttle’s safety and operational efficiency.
    This reform will include continued implementation
    of planned and new privatization
    efforts through the Space Shuttle

    prime contract and further efforts to safely
    and effectively transfer civil service positions
    and responsibilities to the Space
    Shuttle contractor.

  • Space Launch Opportunities. NASA’s
    Space Launch Initiative provides commercial
    industry with the opportunity to meet
    NASA’s future launch needs, including
    human access to space, with new launch
    vehicles that promise to dramatically reduce
    cost and improve safety and reli-ability.
    NASA will undertake management
    reforms within the Space Launch Initiative,
    including: ensuring vehicle affordability
    and competitiveness by limiting requirements
    to essential needs through
    commercial services; creating requirements
    flexibility, where possible, to accommodate
    innovative industry proposals;
    validating requirements through external,
    independent review; implementing a well-integrated
    risk-reduction investment strategy
    that makes investments only after requirements
    and vehicle options are well-understood,
    to ensure a viable competition
    by the middle of the decade for initial Station
    cargo and crew launch services; ensuring
    no set-aside funds for non-industry
    vehicles like the Space Shuttle; and
    achieving affordable, near-term successes
    in Next Generation Launch Services and
    Alternative Access to the Space Station
    and integrating these near-term activities
    into longer-term planning.

  • Critical Capabilities. U.S. academia and
    industry provide a rich R&D resource that
    NASA can tap to strengthen its mission
    capabilities. NASA will develop an integrated,
    long-term agency plan that ensures
    a national capability to support
    NASA’s mission by: identifying NASA’s
    critical capabilities and, through the use
    of external reviews, determining which capabilities
    must be retained by NASA and
    which can be discontinued or led outside
    the agency; expanding collaboration with
    industry, universities and other agencies,
    and outsourcing appropriate activities to
    fully leverage outside expertise; and pursuing
    civil service reforms for capabilities
    that NASA must retain, to ensure recruitment
    and retention of top science, engineering
    and management talent at NASA.