WSJ: White House Has Sticker Shock on Exploration Program

WSJ: White House Has Sticker Shock on Exploration Program

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports today that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is experiencing “sticker shock” over the cost of the new Space Launch System and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle being designed to take humans beyond low Earth orbit.

The article (subscription required for full text) says that President Obama “may announce a decision on what space program the White House will ask Congress to fund in the next few weeks.” The discussion centers on whether Congress will support the “more than $35 billion NASA inititally projected” through 2025 for the SLS and MPCV, or to ask for more money to accelerate the program and provide results sooner. The WSJ says that it obtained a copy of an August 19 NASA budget analysis that shows the latter approach could increase program costs by nearly 80 percent to $62 billion.

Editor’s Note: We were able to get a copy of the presentation used by the WSJ.

User Comments



SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.  We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.