The International Space Station: a question of federal funding and policy implications

A summary form is given of the author's full paper (ibid. vol. 33, p. 7, 1998). The ISS program is a huge investment by the U.S. government. It is estimated by NASA that the program will cost the American public more than $70 billion over a period of 30 years. Since the scientific impact of this program is relatively unknown (and uncertain), the question that policy makers will have to struggle with is whether the federal government should continue to fund the program, or to pull out from the program altogether, thus saving American taxpayers close to $30 billion. Although funding is a major concern, since the inclusion of Russia in the program, the ISS has also become a foreign policy tool. Therefore, additional questions about policy implications of the ISS program need to be addressed.