$5-6 Billion Shortfall? Old News.

Editor’s note: NASA has known that it would need an additional $5-6 billion dollars for several months now. This is evident from the following internal email sent by Mike Griffin to senior HQ management on 31 August 2005:

“From: Griffin, Michael D. (HQ-AA000)
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 6:50 PM
To: Shank, Christopher M. (HQ-AA000)
Cc: [Deleted]

Chris, and Doug Comstock-

Okay, thanks, very helpful. Very definitely NOT what I was told earlier, by Paul Shawcross in fact, and by Bill Readdy, who both agreed that OMB had provided money only for 15 flights, and only through 2008. I know that I did not misunderstand the words that were said. I may have misinterpreted how that result came about.

But no matter; the end result is, we have to figure out the runout for the ’07 budget, and we know we need about $6 B more than we have in the budget, for whatever set of historical reasons, which now do not matter. No harm, no foul, to anyone as far as I’m concerned. All that matters is figuring out, as best we can, what we do from here.

The thing we need everyone to understand fully is that the Shuttle fixed costs are way more of a problem than the variable costs associated with a number of flights. That is why the very best thing for the Shuttle program, and for the transition we are planning to the next-generation system, is to know the date when we want to retire. Then we can work to that date. We may need to adjust the budget to accommodate flight rate, but that is less of an issue.

Thanks to all.

Mike”

Kicking Costs Down The Road, NASA Watch

Editor’s note: The following internal NASA email is part of the process whereby NASA Headquarters gets its numbers straight before it goes to OMB in early September to ask for an additional $5.5 billion over the next few years (FY 2006-2010) to cover previously unquantified costs. Part of the process is trying to understand where (and how) these costs originated in the first place.