Part 1 Space Organizations: NASA - Nasa's Budget

NASA is a federal government agency. For accounting purposes the federal government operates on a fiscal year (FY) that begins in October and runs through the end of September. Thus, fiscal year 2007 covers the time period of October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. Each year by the first Monday in February the President of the United States must present a proposed budget to the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the amount of money that the president estimates will be required to operate the federal government during the next fiscal year.

It can take many months for the House to debate, negotiate, and approve a final budget. Then, the U.S. Senate also must approve the budget. This entire process can take longer than a year, which means that NASA can be well into a fiscal year (or even beyond it) before knowing the exact amount of money appropriated for that year.

On February 6, 2006, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin outlined NASA's FY 2007 budget estimate at a news conference. The agency requested $16.8 billion, a 3.2% increase above the FY 2006 appropriated budget.

Table 2.5 shows the FY 2007 budget request broken down by mission directorate and theme. The space shuttle program is the single most expensive undertaking. It will cost more than $4 billion to operate for the year. Together, the space shuttle and ISS programs account for $6.2 billion (or 37% of the entire budget) for fiscal year 2007. They comprise the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

The Science Mission Directorate is the next most expensive category in the budget. NASA is requesting $5.3 billion to support robotic investigations of our solar system and beyond. Nearly $4 billion is devoted to the Exploration TABLE 2.5 NASA budget request, fiscal year 2007 Adapted from "Budget Adjustments," in Fiscal Year Budget Estimates 2007: Agency Summary, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, February 6, 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142543main_FY07%20Budget%20Agency%20Summary%20—%20FINAL%202-4-06.pdf (accessed February 6, 2006)

TABLE 2.5
NASA budget request, fiscal year 2007
$ in millions	FY07 request
*IEMP = Integrated Enterprise Management Program
SOURCE: Adapted from "Budget Adjustments," in Fiscal Year Budget Estimates 2007: Agency Summary, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, February 6, 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142543main_FY07%20Budget%20Agency%20Summary%20—%20FINAL%202-4-06.pdf (accessed February 6, 2006)
Exploration, science, & aeronautics	10,524.4
Science	5,330.0
Solar system exploration	1,602.0
Universe	1,517.1
Earth-Sun system	2,210.9
Exploration systems	3,978.3
Constellation systems	3,057.6
Exploration systems research & tech	646.1
Human systems research & tech	274.6
Aeronautics research	724.4
Cross-agency support programs	491.7
Education	153.3
IEMP*	108.2
Innovative partnerships	197.9
Shared capability assets	32.2
Exploration capabilities	6,234.4
Space operations	6,234.4
Space station	1,811.3
Space shuttle	4,056.7
Space & flight support	366.5
Inspector General	33.5
Total NASA	16,792.3

TABLE 2.6 NASA budget estimates, fiscal years 2006–11 "FY2007 Budget Request Summary," in Fiscal Year Budget Estimates 2007: Agency Summary, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, February 6, 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142543main_FY07%20Budget%20Agency%20Summary%20—%20FINAL%202-4-06.pdf (accessed February 6, 2006)

TABLE 2.6
NASA budget estimates, fiscal years 2006–11
$ in millions	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011
SOURCE: "FY2007 Budget Request Summary," in Fiscal Year Budget Estimates 2007: Agency Summary, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, February 6, 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142543main_FY07%20Budget%20Agency%20Summary%20—%20FINAL%202-4-06.pdf (accessed February 6, 2006)
Total NASA	16,623	16,792	17,309	17,614	18,026	18,460
Percent change year-to-year		3.2%	3.1%	1.8%	2.3%	2.4%

Systems Mission Directorate. This money would fund research and development of new spacecraft and technologies to send human explorers to Earth's moon and to Mars.

Table 2.6 shows NASA's expectations for future budgets through FY 2011. The long-term plan assumes that shuttle program costs will decrease slowly until 2010 and disappear by 2012. The money saved by eliminating the shuttle program will give a funding boost to the new lunar and Martian exploration programs.