WASHINGTON -- Exports of U.S. civil and commercial spacecraft and satellite components dropped 59 percent in 2000, according to preliminary data compiled for the Aerospace Industries Association's annual Year-End Review and Forecast.

Douglass said the figures were based on satellite deliveries. With the average U.S. satellite delivery time about 18 months or so, that means the deliveries in 2000 were based on orders companies received in 1998 and 1999, the beginning of the U.S. crackdown on satellite exports. When asked if he thought that means the U.S. satellite export figures could drop again in 2001, Douglass said, "I hope not."

Douglass said there is widespread support in Congress to improve the satellite export climate. "It was a colossal knee-jerk mistake and almost everybody I have talked to on the Hill now realizes it."

The AIA figures also showed a drop in the export of military satellite hardware from $369 million in 1999 to $150 million in 2000.

The drop in satellite exports comes at a time when overall U.S. aerospace exports dropped 4.9 percent from $151 billion in 1999 to $144 billion in 2000.

Douglass said he hopes those figures will go back to positive growth over the next couple of years. He noted that in the 35 years AIA has been keeping statistics, aerospace exports have shown a positive balance of trade that totals about $534 billion compared to an overall U.S. trade deficit of about $3 trillion.

In the domestic market, the amount of money NASA and other non-defense federal agencies spent on aerospace products and services declined $400 million from 1999 to 2000 to $12.9 billion.