Editorial: NASA given cold shoulder

Monday, Oct. 2, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

When people think of NASA, they are likely to think of shuttle missions and space stations. But the agency that put a man on the moon is also home to vital, lesser-known aeronautics research that affects our daily lives. The agency for decades has been a world leader in developing aviation technology that makes airplanes safer and more efficient.

Since the early days of the space race, NASA scientists have quietly but dramatically advanced flight research in areas spanning aerodynamics, materials and propulsion science, and flight dynamics. The agency's origins actually date to 1915, when Congress created the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) to oversee flight research, which led to key advances in the development of airplanes - everything from wind tunnels to wing de-icing.

Last week USA Today chronicled just a few of NASA's contributions to modern flight - curved, wingtip "winglets" that make planes more fuel efficient; lighter and stronger composite materials that are replacing aluminum alloys; and computerized aircraft controls being used in new Boeing jets.

The government has come to routinely rely on NASA's expertise. When the National Transportation Safety Board needed technical help after an American Airlines jet crashed in New York City in November 2001, it called NASA's aeronautics experts.

So it is startling to see how much Congress has cut NASA's aeronautics research budget in recent years. Since that budget peaked at $2 billion in 1994, it has been whittled down to about $720 million, in part because of competing priorities like President Bush's plan to send crews to the moon and Mars.

As a result, aviation safety technology programs are being cut by about one-third, USA Today reported. Budget cuts also have forced NASA to slash its funds for an important project that would shift the nation's radar-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based system - and ultimately ease flight delays.

NASA officials publicly say the aeronautics budget is sufficient. But USA Today talked to more than 20 lawmakers, academics, industry and government officials who said NASA's work has been "severely" curbed. "I think it's almost criminal," Roy Harris, retired head of aeronautics at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, told the newspaper. "We are dropping the ball."

As some NASA officials remind us, the first "A" in NASA stands for Aeronautics. Congress should remember that when budgets are finalized. We want NASA to remain a world leader in developing the aviation technologies that passengers rely on every day.