Congressional sources within the space committees praise the NASA request as “excellent,” but say it will have a tough time winning approval. A $1 billion request for activities related to the space shuttle, they noted, which enjoys strong support, could jeopardize increases for smaller science programs.
The new technology effort, christened Pathfinder, is aimed at missions to the Moon and Mars, materials processing using the resources of the Moon and asteroids, interplanetary propulsion and the effects on humans of long-term space flight. The program will grow to $230 million annually by 1993, NASA Administrator James Fletcher told a news briefing, for total expenditures over five years of more than $700 million.
The other major addition is the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), due to enter the final design phase next year under a $27 million budget request. AXAF is envisioned as a 45-foot-long spacecraft that would be orbited in 1995 ...
