The NASA Fiscal Year 1985 Budget Requests That Support DOD Programs

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO updated for fiscal year (FY) 1985 an analysis of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) budget requests to determine the amount that supports Department of Defense (DOD) programs.

GAO requested NASA program offices to prepare a breakout of their FY 1985 budget requests as either DOD or civil supportive based on program requirements and applications. The GAO delineation of appropriation categories differs from the NASA breakout. GAO identified 10 percent of the FY 1985 appropriation as supporting DOD and NASA identified .04 percent as the DOD appropriation. GAO found that a new appropriation category was created for space flight, control, and data communication since the space shuttle is no longer a research and development item. While NASA does not believe that shuttle costs should be allocated between civil and DOD users, the GAO position is that the allocation approximates the benefits that civil and DOD users derive from the program. GAO noted that the amount it allocated to DOD declined about 10 percent from FY 1983. In addition, GAO examined the FY 1985 NASA Construction of Facilities budget request and identified about 9 percent as supporting DOD.