Message posted by Mark Lincoln on July 22, 2011 at 9:16:43 PST:
NASA's budget as a portion of the Federal Budget peaked at 4.41% in 1966. By Apollo 11 it had dropped to 2.31%. In 1975 it went below 1% for the fist time since 1962 and has remained there with the exceptions of 1991-93 when it pushed slightly over 1%. By 2000 it was at .75% and has been below that ever since. The cost of Vietnam caused the first great drop, and the costs of Afghanistan and Iraq the recent paucity. Given the attitude in the US toward the budget it is obvious that NASA will see major cuts along with all other US agencies. The problem will be to keep the portion of the Federal Budget dedicated to NASA from falling. It is unfortunate that so few read NASA Tech Briefs and thus are informed of the extensive contributions to our society by the agency. Too many people think of it only as the manned space program. The current situation is available at http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html As current negotiations have not determined how much the ox will be gored or if the turnip will be squeezed for any blood, the 2011 numbers remain questionable and the 2012 merely hopeful.
In Reply to: Re: Look up Florida posted by Gimbal on July 22, 2011 at 3:02:31 PST:
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