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Thursday, May 2, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Space station exceeds budget by $34 billion, auditor says
Current NASA budget only would yield garage in space, according to Congress
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The cost of building a space station and operating it in the next century will exceed NASA's estimate by at least 40 percent, or $34 billion, and even then may not satisfy research requirements, the government's chief auditor said today.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has said that the station could be built and ready for permanent occupancy in 1999 for a future expansion. It can be operated through the year 2027 for an additional $34 billion.
"We believe the $30 billion estimate is an inappropriate figure to use." Compreller General Charles A. Bowsher said in testimony prepared for a congressional subcommittee.
"What we actually have is at least a $118 billion program — about $40 billion to achieve permanent occupancy and about $78 billion to keep the station operational between 2000 and 2030, and heads the General Accounting Office."
NASA plans to keep the station operating for 30 years, beginning with periodic astronaut visits in 1997.
The testimony to the House Government Operations subcommittee on government activities and transportation added to the criticism heaped in recent months on the space station project.
Subcommittee Chairperson Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said that the
space station's cost had been vastly underreported to the Congress and that her panel estimates it will really total $180 billion.
"I believe that the $30 billion NASA estimate will use us a garage in space with nothing in it and nothing hap- around it." Boxer said in a stalemate.
The station, to be named Freedom, was proposed in 1984 by President Reagan and was to have eight potential uses. But escalating costs and a series of redesigns resulted recently in a scaled-back version that would permit only microgravity and life science research.
Those are two scientific endeavors that many scientists think are incompatible and are not best conducted on the same station. Bowsher said.
In addition, he said, the unreliability of the space shuttle must be taken into account because it is to be the only means of launching and servicing the station. NASA also must consider risks posed by orbital debris and the lack of an emergency crew rescue vehicle, he said.
"The increased costs, coupled with the diminished capabilities, raise questions about the relative value of the station." Bowsher said
He said NASA's construction team understated the real cost by $10 billion. It does not include costs of developing the crew lifeboat, installing a centrifuge conducting science experiments, and operating for 20 shuttle flights to assemble and
Space station costs disputed
The General Accounting Office (GAO) says building and operating the space station will cost more than NASA estimates;
Cost comparisons In billions
Construction
To permanent occupancy stage
NASA $30
GAO $40
Operation
Through the year 2027
NASA $54
GAO $78
NASA's total: $84 billion
GAO's total: $118 billion
SOURCE: Government Accounting Office
Knight-Ridder Tribune News/JUDY TREIBLE
occupy the station by 1999,the GAO chief said.
The same concerns were raised recently at a hearing conducted by the Senate Commerce space subcom and represented by Sen. Albert Gore Jr., D-Tenn.
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