Bit More Than the Economy Model : A redesigned space station that ought to fly

The Clinton Administration has approved a streamlined space station that did not quite meet its original no-frills goal--an objective that turned out to be impossible after all.

The Administration now has recognized the space station program as an important next step forward in space exploration. It is making an attractive argument that it can promote new technologies and economic develop- ment down on the ground.

No program worth its salt could have been brought in at the five-year ceiling of $9 billion that President Clinton had called for in February.

And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Canadian, Japanese and European partners would have been greatly disappointed if the Administration had picked a cheaper model, because that would have made it much harder for them to participate.

Instead, a compromise was agreed on, one that will be somewhat more expensive than the White House had hoped, costing $10.5 billion over the next five years. However, the course settled on will keep the international partners in the game, preserve some of the best of existing plans and deliver personnel savings and improved management.

Those are all good points for the House to consider when it takes up the issue next week, especially since the cost still is projected to be less than NASA originally expected. If there is to be a space station, this is probably the best of all approaches.

It is a good sign that Rep. George E. Brown Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, finds much to recommend the proposal. The Colton Democrat has taken a no-nonsense approach to the space program. And NASA, aware that it lives in a political environment, appears to have learned that there isn’t much tolerance nowadays from Congress or the public for pie-in-the-sky projects.

The management efficiencies in the White House-approved plan would address the absurd duplication that now exists in the space program by reducing personnel. And there still will be plenty of work for California contractors, no matter who turns out to be the prime contractor for the space station.

There are, of course, differences of opinion in Washington over whether a space station is needed at all. Even the Administration, besieged with the political imperatives of the enormous federal deficit, appeared to be wavering in its support.

All the possible benefits of a space station are yet to be known. However, the Administration envisions correctly that a simpler and well-managed program has more to offer than just scientific research alone.