Life Sciences in the Space Program 



involving the Life Sciences Division, summarizes the current status of the 

 program, and makes specific recommendations. 



Issues 



Historically, programs of the Life Sciences Division have been defined and 

 constrained by a number of decision processes, several of which are discussed in 

 this section. Some of these processes can be viewed as outcomes of the matrix 

 organizational structure in which the programs are placed; others are defined by 

 Agency- or Government-wide procedures; still others occur as a result of explicit 

 choices by program officials. 



Vie Budget Process 



The NASA budget process is highly iterative and involves participants at all levels 

 of the organization. Program managers work from the base of the previous year's 

 budget, as well as the projection for the coming year contained within the past 



year's budget. Although this 

 figure may shift as the process 

 unfolds, the number serves as 

 the perceived base line for the 

 budget-planning effort. During 

 the past few years, however, 

 because of delays in the 

 congressional budget process, 

 NASA staff have been required 

 to use budget estimates rather 

 than appropriated funds as a 

 planning base. 



Operating within the 

 framework of the budget 

 "mark" established by the 

 Administrator's office, the Life 

 Sciences Division engages in 

 the development of the 

 proposed budget along two decision processes mandated by the Agency: the 

 Program Operating Plan (POP) and the Research and Technology Operating I 'Km 

 (RTOP). The POP process has been used to establish priorities for flight projects 

 within the Division for the coming year, focusing on specific projects and the time 

 and resources required to implement those projects. To this point, the RTOP's 

 have been devised through a process designed to establish research priorities in 

 specific program areas; this process was used within the research area of the 

 I )i\ ision and frequently conceptualized as a multiyear research plan. Both of these 

 processes have been developed through negotiations, visits, and reviews involving 

 Center staff, program managers, and discipline scientists at NASA Headquarters. 

 Although the balance between program elements does change somewhat from 

 year to year, the Division's budget requests are split between funds tor flight 

 experiments and those tor rest-arch and analysis. 



An overall view of the habitation modules for the Space Station is provided In/ this 

 mockup at Marshall Space Flight Center 



172 



