Slide 49 of 99
Notes:
The April 1987 Space Station budget agreement did not last long. First, Congress reduced the Fiscal 1988 budget from $767 million to $525 million. Of this, only $300 million was available until June 1 1988. NASA was to receive the additional money only if it delivered a less costly "rescoped" program. In June 1988, Senator Bill Proxmire managed to effectively suspend the program until after the 1988 elections when President Bush reaffirmed his support. The Space Station only received a $900-million Fiscal 1989 budget, 50% less than the 1987 plan had assumed and $2.5 billion less overall. Nevertheless, NASA signed final ten-year contracts for developing the Space Station in September 1988. The project was finally moving into the hardware fabrication phase.
The Space Station Freedom design was slightly modified in late 1989 after the program's Fiscal 1990 budget again was reduced -- from $2.05 billion to $1.75 billion. For example, the radiators and attitute control thrusters were simplified. NASA also briefly considered replacing the solar panels with solar thermodynamic power generators, which cost less in the long term but would have required another $50-100 million research & development investment. By this time, repeated budget cut had forced a postponement of the first launch by a year, to March 1995. The Station would be permanently manned from June 1997 onwards and completed in February 1998. The international partners were not happy because NASA did not consult them and because their modules now would be postponed by one year. The available power to all users would also be reduced to 30KW, down from 45KW. A new $321-million spacesuit was also deleted although this only made it harder for astronauts to assemble and maintain the Station's external structure. The total cost had increased to $19 billion ($13 billion at 1984 rates) and NASA had to start a new Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program in 1989 to boost the Shuttle's payload carrying capability as the Station kept growing heavier and more complex.