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Budget of NASA

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Agency overview
Annual budget$19 billion (Fiscal Year 2011)[1]

Each year, the United States Congress passes a Federal Budget detailing where federal tax money will be spent in the coming fiscal year.

The following charts detail the amount of federal funding allotted to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) each year over its past fifty year history (1958–2008) to operate aeronautics research, unmanned planetary and manned space exploration programs.

Annual budget, 1958-2010

Seen in the year-by-year breakdown listed below, the total amounts (in nominal dollars) that NASA has been budgeted from 1958 to 2008 amounts to $416 billion dollars—an average of $8.17 billion per year. By way of comparison, total spending over this period by the National Science Foundation was roughly one-fourth of NASA's expenditures: $101.5 billion, or $2 billion a year.[2]

According to the Office of Management and sdget and the Air Force Almanac, when measured in real terms (Meaning: if the value of $1.00 at today's rate equaled the value of $1.00 in 1958), the figure is $806.7 billion, or an average of $15.818 billion dollars per year over its fifty year history.

History of NASA's annual budget (Millions of US Dollars)

NASA's FY 2008 budget of $17.318 billion represents about 0.6% of the $2.9 trillion United States federal budget, 35% of total spending on academic scientific research in the United States,[6] and 269% of the National Science Foundation budget,[2] but only 61% of the National Institutes of Health budget. [7]

Cost of project Apollo

NASA's budget peaked in 1966, during the Apollo program

As this chart shows, NASA's budget peaked in 1966, during the height of construction efforts leading up to the first moon landing under Project Apollo. At its peak, the Apollo program involved more than 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. Roughly two to four cents out of every U.S. tax dollar (or 4% of the total federal budget) was being devoted to the space program.

In March 1966, NASA officials briefing Congressional members stated the "run-out cost" of the Apollo program to put men on the moon would be an estimated $22.718 billion for the 13 year program which began in 1959 and eventually accomplished six successful missions between July 1969 and December 1972.[citation needed] According to Steve Garber,[citation needed] the NASA History website curator, the final cost of project Apollo was between $20 and $25.4 billion in 1969 Dollars (or approximately $136 billion in 2007 Dollars). The costs associated with the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets amounted to about $83-billion in 2005 Dollars (Apollo spacecraft cost $28-billion (Command/Service Module $17-billion; Lunar Module $11-billion), Saturn I, Saturn IB, Saturn V costs about $ 46-billion 2005 dollars).

Current fiscal realities

The space agency's budget would grow to $19 billion in 2011 under the proposed budget released on February 1, 2010, with an emphasis on science and less spent on space exploration.[8] NASA would contract more of its missions and functions to private firms.

Distribution of NASA funds by state

A November 1971 study of NASA released by the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City, Missouri ("Technological Progress and Commercialization of Communications Satellites." In: "Economic Impact of Stimulated Technological Activity") concluded that “the $25 billion in 1958 dollars spent on civilian space R & D during the 1958-1969 period has returned $52 billion through 1971 -- and will continue to produce pay offs through 1987, at which time the total pay off will have been $181 billion. The discounted rate of return for this investment will have been 33 percent.”

This statement is plausible since those were the years when NASA’s spending on Apollo was at its height. However, NASA also invested in other programs, and they are included in the mix, so the conclusion is not as definitive as one would like. Also, a 33% Return on Investment (ROI) is not really big enough to make the normal venture capitalist go wild, but for a government program, it is quite respectable.[citation needed]

A map from NASA's web site illustrating its economic impact on the U.S. states (as of FY2003)

A 1992 article in the British science journal Nature reported:[9]

"The economic benefits of NASA's programs are greater than generally realized. The main beneficiaries (the American public) may not even realize the source of their good fortune. . ."

Other statistics and confirmation that "Space pays" may also be found in the 1976 Chase Econometrics Associates, Inc. reports ("The Economic Impact of NASA R&D Spending: Preliminary Executive Summary.", April 1975. Also: "Relative Impact of NASA Expenditure on the Economy.", March 18, 1975) and backed by the 1989 Chapman Research report, which examined just 259 non-space applications of NASA technology during an eight year period (1976–1984) and found more than:

— $21.6 billion in sales and benefits;

— 352,000 (mostly skilled) jobs created or saved,and;

— $355 million in federal corporate income taxes

Other benefits, not quantified in the study, include: state corporate income taxes, individual personal income taxes (federal and state) paid by those 352,000 workers, and incalculable benefits resulting from lives saved and improved quality of life. According to the "Nature" article, these 259 applications represent ". . .only 1% of an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Space program spin-offs. These benefits were in addition to benefits in the Space industry itself and in addition to the ordinary multiplied effects of any government spending."

In 2002, the aerospace industry contributed more than $95 billion to U.S. economic activity, which included $23.5 billion in employee earnings, and employed 576,000 people—a 16% increase in jobs from three years earlier (source: Federal Aviation Administration, March 2004).

Just 15 firms that received an initial $64 million in NASA life sciences research added $200 million of their own money and created a $1.5 billion return on investment in the form of sold commercial goods and services during 25 years.[10]

Public Perception

Public perception of the NASA budget is very different from reality and has been the subject of controversy since the agency's creation. A 1997 poll reported that Americans had an average estimate of 20% for NASA's share of the federal budget, very different from the actual 0.5% to under 1% that has been maintained throughout the late 90's and first decade of 2010.[11]

Related legislation

  • 1961— Apollo mission funding PL 87-98 A
  • 1970— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research and Development Act, PL 91-119
  • 1984— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act, PL 98-361
  • 1988— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act, PL 100-685
  • 2005— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005, PL 109-155[12]
  • 2010— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010

See also

References

  1. ^ Bill Summary of NASA Authorization Act of 2010
  2. ^ a b "Budget Internet Information System". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  3. ^ a b % of total federal expenditures from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/01/nasa-budgets-us-spending-space-travel
  4. ^ a b 1999-2010 based on federal outlays from: Federal_budget_(United_States)#Total_outlays_in_recent_budget_submissions
  5. ^ a b c d e f g 2011 Budget Overview
  6. ^ "Federal Spending on Academic Research Continued Downward Trend in 2007". August 25, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  7. ^ "NIH Budget Flat in 2009 2009 Proposal" (PDF). American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  8. ^ "Obama budget would cut NASA moon plan". Reuters. February 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  9. ^ Roger H. Bezdek & Robert M. Wendling (January 9, 1992). "Sharing out NASA's spoils" (PDF). Nature. 355. Nature Publishing Group: 105–106. doi:10.1038/355105a0. Retrieved 2008-03-30. The economic benefits of NASA's programmes are greater than generally recognized. The main beneficiaries may not even realize the source of their good fortune. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |quotes=, |laydate=, |laysource=, and |laysummary= (help)
  10. ^ Hertzfeld, Henry (1998-09-30). "Measuring the Returns to NASA Life Sciences Research and Development". Space Policy Institute. George Washington University. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  11. ^ Launius, Roger D. "Public opinion polls and perceptions of US human spaceflight" (PDF). Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
  12. ^ National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005, PL 109-155, US Government, December 30, 2005.

External links

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