------- Blind-Carbon-Copy  To: spacenews@austen.rand.org, cti@austen.rand.org Subject: White House outlines options for station, Russian cooperation Date: Tue, 06 Apr 93 16:00:21 PDT From: Richard Buenneke <buenneke@austen.rand.org>  4/06/93:  GIBBONS OUTLINES SPACE STATION REDESIGN GUIDANCE  NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. April 6, 1993  RELEASE:  93-64          Dr.  John H.  Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, outlined to the members-designate of the Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station on April 3, three budget options as guidance to the committee in their deliberations on the redesign of the space station.          A low option of $5 billion, a mid-range option of $7 billion and a high option of $9 billion will be considered by the committee.  Each option would cover the total expenditures for space station from fiscal year 1994 through 1998 and would include funds for development, operations, utilization, Shuttle integration, facilities, research operations support, transition cost and also must include adequate program reserves to insure program implementation within the available funds.          Over the next 5 years, $4 billion is reserved within the NASA budget for the President's new technology investment.  As a result, station options above $7 billion must be accompanied by offsetting reductions in the rest of the NASA budget.  For example, a space station option of $9 billion would require $2 billion in offsets from the NASA budget over the next 5 years.          Gibbons presented the information at an organizational session of the advisory committee.  Generally, the members-designate focused upon administrative topics and used the session to get acquainted.  They also received a legal and ethics briefing and an orientation on the process the Station Redesign Team is following to develop options for the advisory committee to consider.          Gibbons also announced that the United States and its international partners -- the Europeans, Japanese and Canadians -- have decided, after consultation, to give "full consideration" to use of Russian assets in the course of the space station redesign process.          To that end, the Russians will be asked to participate in the redesign effort on an as-needed consulting basis, so that the redesign team can make use of their expertise in assessing the capabilities of MIR and the possible use of MIR and other Russian capabilities and systems. The U.S. and international partners hope to benefit from the expertise of the Russian participants in assessing Russian systems and technology.  The overall goal of the redesign effort is to develop options for reducing station costs while preserving key research and exploration capabilitiaes. Careful integration of Russian assets could be a key factor in achieving that goal.          Gibbons reiterated that, "President Clinton is committed to the redesigned space station and to making every effort to preserve the science, the technology and the jobs that the space station program represents.  However, he also is committed to a space station that is well managed and one that does not consume the national resources which should be used to invest in the future of this industry and this nation."          NASA Administrator Daniel S.  Goldin said the Russian participation will be accomplished through the East-West Space Science Center at the University of Maryland under the leadership of Roald Sagdeev.