In article <
asqsvu...@mid.individual.net>,
inv...@invalid.pe1pqx.eu
says...
>
> Jeff Findley heeft ons zojuist aangekondigd :
> > Beating the Soviets was the point of the manned space program (once
they
> > put their cosmonaut into orbit first), up until the mid to late 60's
> > when it became fairly clear that Apollo/Saturn would (eventually)
> > succeed, so the cost cutting started. The space race with the Soviets
> > certainly caused a sense of urgency that simply did not last. Spending
> > at NASA was never higher than in the 60's.
>
> > But NASA's job clearly included much more than simply beating the
> > Soviets, as the agency persists, just at a lower funding level than the
> > Space Race provided.
>
> So the Skylab and the Space Shuttle program were underfunded?
> (I know Skylab is a modified Saturn upper stage)
Skylab was done on a shoestring budget using hardware mostly leftover
from Apollo/Saturn. There were Saturn IB vehicles leftover from early
Apollo testing (I believe in favor of flying Apollo hardware on early
"all up" tests of Saturn V). Later, a couple of flight worthy Saturn
V's were leftover from canceled lunar landing flights.
Heck, even the airlock door on Skylab was a Gemini door, which looked a
bit funny, but was flight proven hardware.
The space shuttle program was actually 1/3 of an ambitious space
transportation system consisting of the shuttle, an orbital maneuvering
vehicle, and a space station. Note that in the 70's, only the space
shuttle was funded, plus it was the version which minimized development
costs with some sacrifice of reusability.
So I'd say yes, the funding level during the shuttle era was lower than
NASA had originally hoped.