Clear Lake Area NSS

P. O. Box 890588

Houston, Texas  77289-0588

NEWS RELEASE

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*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*                                                       June 29, 2001

Media Contact: Murray Clark, 281-367-2227, mclark637@aol.com

                            Marianne Dyson, 281-486-4747, mjdyson@swbell.net

Clear Lake Area Chapter of the National Space Society (CLA NSS) Protests Cuts to NASA's Human Spaceflight Budget

Houston - Members of the National Space Society attended a Town Hall meeting on Friday, June 29, to protest the proposed 14% cut to NASA's Human Spaceflight budget. The cut would downsize the planned crew for the completed station from 7 to 3.

NSS Board member and CLA NSS President Murray Clark said, "We need a full crew complement of 6 or 7 to carry out a useful research program. Because station maintenance and operation requires 2-3 crewmembers full time, limiting the crew to 3 is like running a college for one part-time student."

CLA NSS Board member Robby Gaines offers an analogy. "Suppose the government asked you to design and build an Indy 500 race car. They gave you $1,000,000 and you designed and built the body, chassis and suspension. You also put together a top notch race team to transport, drive and maintain the car. Now you need $100,000 more to buy an Offenhauser Indy racing engine. The government refuses to give you the money to complete the car. Instead they tell you to use that old Chevy engine in the back.

"Do you think you will win the Indy? Will people laugh at your foolhardiness for spending $1,000,000 on a car that DOESN'T GO FAST? That doesn't meet the specifications? Whose fault is it? You, the designer/builder or the government/owner that didn't put up enough money to finish the job right?"

Much of the current cost overrun in the space station program is the result of delays caused by lack of funding by the Russian government. By cutting programs such as the crew return vehicle to makeup for this overrun, the U.S. is again putting the Russians into the critical path. Without another crew emergency escape vehicle, an interruption in the availability of Soyuz capsules would mean the loss of a permanent crew capability, and risk abandonment of the entire investment in ISS.

NASA's entire budget is less than one percent of the federal budget. Studies have shown that for each dollar invested in the space program, seven are returned to the private sector in technological spin-offs. Therefore, cutting innovative programs such as the closed loop environmental lab, Bioplex, and plasma rocket studies may save a few dollars in the short term, but will hurt our economy in the long run.

NSS Board member and award-winning children's author Marianne Dyson comments, "When we cut the human spaceflight budget, we are telling our children that their future isn't worth our investment. Instead of inspiring them with the heroic challenges of pioneering the space frontier, we are grounding them on one crowded planet. And as author Larry Niven pointed out, 'The dinosaurs didn't have a space program.' Let's not be penny-wise and pound-foolish. We can, indeed we must, invest in the human space program if we care about the future of our children."

The National Space Society therefore urges that:

1. ISS be augmented with capability for a full crew of 6 or 7 people, on the earliest time scale practicable within reasonable budget constraints.

2. An "ISS Applications Program" should be implemented as soon as possible, to begin steps towards the objective of expanding human presence beyond low Earth orbit, and to take full advantage of our investment in ISS.

3. NASA develop and publish, this year, a plan for such an ISS Applications Program, such plan to include consideration of the components that were recently deleted from the ISS assembly sequence.

4. A Non-Governmental Organization be created to support management of the space station and to develop commercial applications of the space station.

5. The Bush Administration amend the national space policy to restore the objective "to expand human presence and activities beyond Earth orbit into the Solar System".  [Approved by NSS Policy Committee, March 2001]

The National Space Society, founded in 1974, is an educational nonprofit space advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Information on NSS is available at http://www.nss.org The Clear Lake Area Chapter of NSS meets on the first Mondays at the Parker Williams Library in Houston.