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58m ago

Senate Approves $24.4 Billion NASA Budget That Rejects Deep Cuts

The vote rebukes the White House’s proposed 24% cut, signaling Congress’s bid to reset NASA’s priorities.

A meteorologist monitors weather activity on a computer screen at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Weather and Climate Prediction headquarters in College Park, Maryland on Dec. 5, 2024.
A view shows the U.S. Capitol dome from the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 14, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
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Overview

  • The measure sets NASA’s top line at $24.4 billion for 2026, a 1.6% drop from 2024, and allocates $7.25 billion to science.
  • Appropriators shift priorities by raising heliophysics funding to $874 million (+8.7%) and trimming planetary science to $2.5 billion (-6.5%) versus 2024.
  • Lawmakers preserve the Space Launch System, with funding secured after efforts to end the program following its third flight were rejected.
  • Bill language instructs NASA to protect Goddard Space Flight Center’s technical capabilities and keep Goddard Institute for Space Studies work running with minimal disruption.
  • Congress effectively cancels the Mars Sample Return program but provides $110 million for Mars technology work, with final enactment still pending before the Jan. 30 deadline.