NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

President George W. Bush submitted an amendment to his fiscal year 2003 budget request to accelerate implementation of a new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) for NASA. Driven by the agency's new vision and mission, the Administration released details of a new, coordinated shift in three of the agency's important space flight programs. Read the NASA Press Release.

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives requesting consideration of the FY 2003 budget amendments for the Department of Justice and NASA.

Budget of the United States Government FY 2003 budget amendments and supplementals.

Full text of Budget Amendments for the Department of Justice and NASA in PDF format.

Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Heading: Human Space Flight
FY 2003 Budget Appendix Page: 1023
FY 2003 Pending Request: $6,172,900,000
Proposed Amendment: --
Revised Request: $6,172,900,000

This proposal reflects the President's decision to restructure NASA's Space Launch Initiative and ensure that the International Space Station can achieve the agreed upon U.S."core complete" configuration and better address scientific research priorities. For the five-year plan (FY 2003-2007), the proposal, in aggregate, transfers $1.2 billion to the Human Space Flight account and allocates these funds by:

• Adding $706 million to bolster Space Station reserves and maintain items requiring long-lead development times for potential enhanced research in response to recently completed independent cost estimates and program reviews, and

• Adding $470 million for the Space Shuttle to ensure its extended viability for supporting Space Station research and operations needs, as well as additional Space Shuttle flights to increase scientific utilization of the Space Station.

This amendment would not affect the FY2003 budgetary resources proposed in the FY 2003 Budget.

Heading: Science, Aeronautics and Technology
FY 2003 Budget Appendix Page: 1025-1026
FY 2003 Pending Request: $8,918,500,000
Proposed Amendment: --
Revised Request: $8,918,500,000

This proposal reflects the President's decision to restructure and improve NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) and ensure that the International Space Station can achieve the agreed upon U.S. "core complete" comfiguration and better address research priorities. NASA has developed a new Integrated Space Transportation Plan that provides a systematic approach to its space transportation needs. The plan will: extend the Space Shuttle's operational life through at least the middle of the next decade; aggressively pursue a crew transfer vehicle called the Orbital Space Plane; and develop the technologies that will enable future launch systems, especially reusable launch vehicles. Some of these activities would be conducted under a revamped and more effectively focused SLI program.

For FY 2003, the proposal would:

• Transfer $165 million within the SLI budget from other SLI projects into NASA Unique Systems (renamed Orbital Space Plane); and

• Shift $120 million into the SLI budget due to incorporation of the Third Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle program.

The above changes for FY 2003 will result in significant modifications to the outyear budget, but remain within NASA's annual budget totals. Compared with NASA's five-year plan (FY 2003-2007) contained in the FY 2003 Budget, the proposal would:

• Add $882 million for the SLI Orbital Space Plane to aggressively pursue this critical new capability for Space Station.

• Add $75 million for Biological and Physical Research to enable processing and transportation of scientific payloads to the Space Station on the additional Shuttle flights;

• Add $1,176 million to the Human Space Flight account;

• Offset all the above by reducing other SLI projects from $3,899 million to $1,766 million, a reduction of $2,133 million. These reductions would be achieved by delaying consideration for full-scale development of a new reusable launch vehicle pending further study of long-term launch requirements; and transfer $661million from the Third Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle program into the SLI budget for the Next Generation Launch Technology Program.

This proposal would not affect the FY 2003 budgetary resources proposed in the FY 2003 Budget.