In 1973, NASA published the first volume of the NASA Historical Data Book, a hefty tome containing mostly tabular data on the resources of the space agency between 1958 and 1968. There, broken into detailed tables, were the facts and figures associated with the budget, facilities, procurement, installations, and personnel of NASA during that formative decade. In 1988, NASA reissued that first volume of the data book and added two additional volumes on the agency's programs and projects, one each for 1958-1968 and 1969-1978. NASA published a fourth volume in 1994 that addressed NASA resources for the period between 1969 and 1978. This fifth volume of the NASA Historical Data Book is a continuation of those earlier efforts. This fundamental reference tool presents information, much of it statistical, documenting the development of four critical areas of NASA responsibility for the period between 1979 and 1988. This volume includes detailed information on the development and operation of launch systems, space transportation, human spaceflight, and space science during this era. As such, it contains in-depth statistical information about the early Space Shuttle program through the return to flight in 1988, the early efforts to build a space station, the development of new launch systems, and the launching of seventeen space science missions.

Excerpt from Nasa Historical Data Book, Vol. 5: Nasa Launch Systems, Space Transportation, Human Spaceflight, and Space Science, 1979-1988 Congress appropriated operating funds each year. These appropria tions were the culmination of a series of activities that required at least two years of effort by the installations and Headquarters. Two years before a budget year began, Headquarters sent guidelines to each installation that contained programmatic and budget information based on its long-range plans and the budget forecasts from the Office of Management and Budget (omb). Each installation then prepared a detailed budget, or Program Operating Plan (pop), for the fiscal year that would begin two years in the future. The installation also refined the bud get for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year that it had already submitted and had approved, and it provided less detailed budget figures for later years. Upon approval from each installation's comptroller and director, this budget was forwarded to the appropriate Headquarters-level program office, to the nasa comptroller's office, and the nasa administrator. Headquarters reviewed the budget requests from each installation, held discussions with the installations, and negotiated with omb to arrive at a budget that looked realistic and had a fair chance of passage by Congress. Following these negotiations, nasa formally submitted its budget requests to omb. This became part of the administration's budget that went to Congress in January of each year. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.