Station's cost more than triples since Reagan plan
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- President Ronald Reagan proposed a space station in 1984 to be built within a decade. Its estimated price was $8 billion. Here's a calendar of events since then:
Space Station Revisions
1984: First proposed station Huge outpost with separate experiment platforms and a hangar to build other spacecraft. Crew to number about six. Cost: $8 billion.
1986: The dual keel Crews would live in linked modules with hangars and antennas moved to outer edges. Trusses for solar panels become fixtures in all future designs. Cost: $38 billion.
1991: Revised design Satellite hangars and refueling slots are eliminated along with a pair of crew modules. Cost: $30 billion.
1993: Alpha/ISS Crew segments were eliminated, leaving a single tube of labs and living areas with a couple branching off. Cost: $17.4 billion.
Jan. 25, 1984: President Ronald Reagan directs NASA to build a space station within a decade and invites other nations to join the effort. NASA estimates cost of station to be $8 billion.
1986: Design of space station revised.
1987: Congress mandates several changes that drive a second major redesign.
1988: The U.S. reaches agreement with Europe, Canada and Japan to become full partners. The partners decide to name the station, "Freedom."
December 1990: Freedom's cost estimates grow to $38 billion, including launches.
1991: Congress again mandates changes requiring another station redesign.
March 1991: NASA releases redesign of Freedom, with a cost estimate of $30 billion, including launches.
Late 1992: Cost growth of the program forces yet another redesign, marking the first change to the station ordered by the White House.
January 1993:
NASA announces Freedom cost has grown by $1 billion.
President Bill Clinton orders redesign of station to reduce costs. Shortly thereafter, Freedom is terminated.
Between 1984 and 1993, $11.2 billion had been spent on Freedom with little hardware built.
A less expensive design emerges.
June 1993: The House of Representatives votes 216-215 to continue the space station program.
September 1993: NASA announces Russians become full partner in program and releases new design. NASA and Clinton publically agree to limit yearly spending to about $2.1 billion and an overall limit of $17.4 billion.
1994: NASA spends $2.1 billion on station.
1995: NASA spends $4.2 billion to date on station.
September 1997: After three years of insisting it could build the International Space Station for $17.4 billion, NASA concedes it cannot.
1998: NASA spends $11.2 billion to date on the space station.
April 15, 1998: Chabrow Report concludes space station has only 70-30 chance of being built for $26 billion and would be up to three years late.
November 1998: Russia launches the Zarya control module.
December 1998: NASA launches the Unity node.
2000: NASA spends $15.8 billion on space station to date.
June 2000: Congress sets a new spending cap for space station: $26 billion.
July 2000: Russia launches the Zvezda service module 19 months late.
November 2000: Expedition 1, the first crew of three, leaves for the space station. Commander Bill Shepherd dubs the station "Alpha."
January 2001: NASA spends $17.9 billion to date on space station. NASA launches the Destiny lab, also learns of $4 billion cost overrun in station program.
February 23, 2001: George Abbey, director of Johnson Space Center and overseer of the space station project, sets course for absorbing the $4 billion overrun. He is reassigned by NASA Administrator Dan Goldin the same day.
Feb. 28, 2001: President George W. Bush releases his blueprint for the space station, officially reveals the $4 billion cost overrun, and terminates the crew escape vehicle and living module as cost-saving measures.
2006: Station to be completed. NASA to spend about $26.1 billion on space station.
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