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• Federation of American Scientists

Summary

The International Space Station (ISS) program began in 1993, with Russia joining the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada. Crews have occupied ISS on a 4-6 month rotating basis since November 2000. The U.S. Space Shuttle, which first flew in April 1981, has been the major vehicle taking crews and cargo back and forth to ISS, but the shuttle system has encountered difficulties since the Columbia disaster in 2003. Russian Soyuz spacecraft are also used to take crews to and from ISS, and Russian Progress spacecraft deliver cargo, but cannot return anything to Earth, since they are not designed to survive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. A Soyuz is always attached to the station as a lifeboat in case of an emergency. President Bush, prompted in part by the Columbia tragedy, made a major space policy address on January 14, 2004, directing NASA to focus its activities on returning humans to the Moon and someday sending them to Mars. Included in this "Vision for Space Exploration" is a plan to retire the space shuttle in 2010. The President said the United States would fulfill its commitments to its space station partners, but the details of how to accomplish that without the shuttle were not announced. The shuttle Discovery was launched on July 4, 2006, and returned safely to Earth on July 17. This was the first of 16 post-Columbia flights to the ISS that NASA plans to complete before retiring the shuttle in 2010. The shuttle Atlantis followed with a September 9 launch that resumed construction of the International Space Station before returning to earth September 21. Discovery returned to the ISS in December, returning to earth December 22 after a 13-day mission that included four space walks and continued work on the station. On June 29, 2006, the House passed the FY2007 Science, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies appropriations bill (H.R. 5672), which includes funding for NASA. The bill would have funded the Exploration Capabilities account, which includes the shuttle and the ISS, at $6.194 billion in FY2007. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of H.R. 5672 (S.Rept. 109-280) on July 13, 2006, recommending $6.235 billion for Exploration Capabilities, but the Senate did not take action on the bill. NASA programs were funded for FY2007 in the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (H.J.Res. 20, P.L. 110-5). P.L. 110-5 funded Exploration Capabilities at $6.140 billion.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.5672
• H.J.RES.20

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