§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the present status, according to the United States administration, of the space station; how much (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other 80WA members of the European Committee have so far spent on the space station; and what percentage this represents of total expenditures on space.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Reay)The current status of the United States space station freedom (SSF) programme is that the House of Representatives has voted to reinstate funding of 1..9 billion US Dollars for the US financial year 1992, which had been deleted by the House Appropriations Subcommittee in the middle of May 1991. This funding level has yet to be agreed by the US Senate, which is due to consider it during July. Final resolution between the House of Representatives and the Senate will not take place until mid-September.
To the end of 1990, the United Kingdom has spent £27.9 million on Columbus, the European Space Agency (ESA's) contribution to the space station freedom programme. The majority of this UK expenditure has been directed towards the development of an unmanned polar platform for earth observation, which is independent of the manned SSF and Columbus elements. Other member states of the ESA have spent a total of £342.7 million on Columbus. The UK expenditure represents 3.6 per cent. of the total Government expenditure on civil space during financial years 1985–86 to 1990–91. The expenditure by other ESA member-states represents 8.0 per cent. of their expenditure on ESA programmes.