Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 455
expenditures on the human space flight program. By 1997, the federal budget
improves by only $0.80 billion relative to what it would be if NASA spending on the
human space flight program were not cut.
• Potential technology spinoffs would be lost if the human space flight program were
eliminated. Much of the research in the human space flight program is taking place
in artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, optical communication, and advanced
computers. These are all areas that would have clear commercial applications.
NASA’s space station program provides the following economic impacts:
• By 1997, an estimated 55,000 jobs in the U.S. economy are created by the space station
program. Many are in high-technology sectors (such as high-tech capital goods,
electronics, telecommunications, and software development). Employment at aerospace,
communications equipment, transportation equipment, and industrial
machinery manufacturers are dependent upon the continuation of space station program.
Over the next couple of years, spending on the space station program will center
on the final R&D and on manufacturing. While the estimated employment
impacts are smaller than the other two simulations, the industries most impacted
again show a high correlation with those sectors targeted as critical for national competitiveness.
• An estimated $2.60 billion of real GDP in the U.S. economy is tied to the space station
program by 1997. Between 1995 and 2000, the space station program will contribute
a cumulative addition of $13.8 billion to real GDP. This estimate does not
include the increase to GDP that might result from technological innovation. The
transmission mechanism throughout the economy of federal expenditures on the
space station program are similar to the first two simulations, but the estimated
impact is lower due to smaller expenditures. An important implication of the economic
activity associated with the space station program is that it promotes proportionally
more towards investment in equipment than either the total NASA budget or
the human space flight program. Therefore, the productivity enhancing properties of
these federal expenditures are high.
• If the space station program were eliminated, the federal deficit would not improve
as much as the expenditure cuts. The combination of lower tax receipts and higher
transfer payments offset much of the impact of the elimination of these federal expenditures.
By 1997, the federal budget improves by only $0.26 billion relative to what it
would be if spending on the space station program were not cut.
• Potential technology spinoffs would be lost if the space station program were eliminated.
Similar to the human space flight program, much of the research is taking place
in artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, optical communication, and advanced
computers. All of these areas promise a high degree of commercial applications. . . .
Document III-12
Document title: Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, “The President’s Space
Policy and Commercial Space Initiative to Begin the Next Century,” Fact Sheet, February
11, 1988.
Source: Documentary History Collection, Space Policy Institute, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C.