The Nation : ‘Can’t Go On’ With Cuts, NASA Warns

Dr. James C. Fletcher, administrator of NASA, said the country’s civilian space program “is facing extinction this year” if Congress carries out threats to cut space funds. The proposed space station, he said, will be doomed if Congress doesn’t grant the money that the space agency and President Reagan have requested. “If there isn’t enough money, we just can’t go on,” he said. “It’s curtains for the space station” if Congress appropriates much below the $900 million NASA needs for that project. Reagan has proposed $11.5 billion for NASA in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, but members of the Senate and House appropriations committees have said the amount will be $10.7 billion or less. Fletcher said that if the amount set in the House budget resolution--$10.2 billion--prevails, the civil space program will be stopped in its tracks.