David Spain wrote:
Won't the "black" programs be a problem? I don't think
those things are publicly itemized. Are you willing to
ignore those?

Dave

From Rusty's reference to .pdf file:

[quote]
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) conducts the most
visible space activities. NASA requested
$15.0 billion for FY2003; Congress approved
$15.3 billion (adjusted for the 0.65% acrossthe-
board rescission, from which the shuttle
program was exempted). The FY2004 request
is $15.5 billion.

The Department of Defense (DOD) has
a less visible but equally substantial space
program. Tracking the DOD space budget is
extremely difficult since space is not identified
as a separate line item in the budget.
DOD sometimes releases only partial
information (omitting funding for classified
programs) or will suddenly release without
explanation new figures for prior years that
are quite different from what was previously
reported. The most recent figures from DOD
show a total (classified and unclassified) space
budget of $15.7 billion for FY2002, $18.4
billion for FY2003, and a FY2004 request of
$20.4 billion. DOD space issues include
management of programs to develop new
early warning and missile tracking satellites,
and management of military and intelligence
space activities generally.
[end quote]

Answers my question. On page 9 there's a chart
that shows one outpacing the other from 1961
till 1981 and then they cross, cross again
in 1991 and 1993, 1999, 2001, and then one
wildly diverges from the other in 2002 to 2008.
But since this report was prepared in April 2003,
presumably anything after 2002 is a projection?
And I'll be danged if I can tell from the chart
which is which. Was this supposed to be in color?

Reading the text in this paragraph would indicate
that the top line ending in '07 is DOD spending
and the bottom line is NASA spending. Therefore
according to the char NASA *slightly* exceeded DOD
from 1961 to 1981, during the 80's DOD exceeded NASA,
they meet briefly in the early 90's, then DOD exceeds NASA
again in late 90's and then really heads off in the 00's...

Dave