Senate bill under debate aims to restore NASA budget funding, Artemis and science missions

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Amid a NASA staffing exodus and looming potential budget cuts, U.S. Senate leaders signaled they want to protect the agency's annual funding and pursue Artemis rocket launches to the moon en route to Mars, along with an array of science-based missions.
A proposed bill — which remains in the negotiation stage — would fund NASA at $24.9 billion for the 2026 fiscal year, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said Thursday, July 10, during a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing.
That's slightly more than this year's sum of $24.8 billion — and significantly more than the White House's proposal to cut NASA's budget to $18.8 billion next year. The White House plan represented a 24% reduction, including a 47% cut to science missions and activities.
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"Certainly, it's way too early to declare victory on anything. Because the House still has to consider their version. We have to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions. And it's got to make it to the president's desk before it actually becomes the budget of the United States," said Jack Kiraly, director of government relations with the Planetary Society.
"But it's a huge step forward for everybody that wrote a letter, that made a phone call, that visited their (congressional) members, that made their voice heard. This is a major step forward in protecting science funding," Kiraly said.
Released in May, the White House budget proposal called for slashing NASA agency-wide funding by $6 billion, including phasing out the "grossly expensive and delayed" Space Launch System rocket-Orion capsule program after three flights.
Thursday's Senate appropriations discussion occurred the day after Politico reported 2,694 NASA civil staffers have agreed to leave the agency via deferred resignation, early retirement and other offers. Of that sum, at least 2,145 are senior-level employees. NASA employed nearly 18,000 people earlier this year.
"What would've happened if 2,000+ senior NASA leaders were pushed out before the moon landing? We would've lost the space race to the Soviets," U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, said in a Wednesday tweet. He is a retired NASA astronaut who flew into orbit on four space shuttle missions.
"And now we risk losing the next space race to China," Kelly said.
In another agency move Wednesday night, President Donald Trump announced Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will serve as NASA's interim administrator, "even if only for a short period of time."
NASA's last permanent administrator was Bill Nelson, who was appointed by President Joe Biden and stepped down in January on the day of Trump's inauguration. Trump initially nominated Polaris Dawn commander and astronaut Jared Isaacman to run NASA, but Trump dropped him from consideration in May.
Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX crews continue preparing for the upcoming Crew-11 mission, which is expected to launch July 31 at the earliest from Kennedy Space Center. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will journey into low-Earth orbit for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, chairs the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over NASA and dozens of other agencies.
"For NASA, the bill reflects an ambitious approach to space exploration, prioritizing the agency's flagship program, Artemis, and rejecting premature terminations of systems like SLS and Orion before commercial replacements are ready," Moran said during Thursday's hearing.
"We make critical investments to accelerate our plans to land Americans on the lunar surface before the Chinese, but also in the technologies and capacity to land astronauts on Mars," he said.
"This bill protects key science missions that are fundamental to furthering our understanding of the Earth and better stewards of our natural resources, and supports critical programs not only to drive discovery, but to safeguard the Earth from natural disasters," he said.
Van Hollen said NASA's funding would be used "to explore the solar system, to advance our understanding of climate change, promote innovation and sustainability in aeronautics, and protect our planet."
"We rejected cuts that would have devastated NASA science by 47% and would have terminated 55 operating and planned missions," Van Hollen said.
Details in the Senate appropriations bill remained under negotiation Thursday afternoon with no resolution, and Kiraly said the text has not yet been released.
On Monday, the Planetary Society publicly released a letter from all seven living former heads of NASA's Science Mission Directorate opposing the proposed 47% science cutback in Trump's spending plan. The letter called for bipartisan Congressional support for NASA science, citing the import of investments in the next generation of U.S. scientists and engineers.
"Global space competition extends far past Moon and Mars exploration. The Chinese space science program is aggressive, ambitious, and well-funded. It is proposing missions to return samples from Mars, explore Neptune, monitor climate change for the benefit of the Chinese industry and population, and peer into the universe — all activities that the FY 2026 NASA budget proposal indicates the U.S. will abandon," the letter said.
Separate but related to the Senate debate, Trump signed the Republicans' "big, beautiful bill" last week, featuring a huge package of federal tax and spending policies.
Introduced by Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the Senate version of the bill included $10 billion in NASA funding, much of which had been slated for deletion in the White House budget proposal. Highlights include:
$4.1 billion to fund two Space Launch System rockets for the Artemis IV and V missions, which the White House budget had proposed to eliminate. "This funding would not preclude integrating new, commercial options if and when they become available," the provision said.
$2.6 billion to fully fund the Gateway lunar space station, which was also slated for elimination.
$885 million for infrastructure improvements at regional centers, including $250 million at Kennedy Space Center.
$325 million to fund a deorbit vehicle to safely bring down the International Space Station, which is nearing the end of its useful life.
"That is money that will be spent. No questions asked: $10 billion being spent on NASA to make sure we stay space-dominant," U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indian Harbour Beach, said in a phone interview earlier this week. He chairs the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.
Kiraly said this $10 billion must be obligated by the end of the 2029 fiscal year, and he described it as supplemental in nature. Regarding NASA's discretionary budget, he said "we're in the trenches now of the annual appropriation process, the thing that spools up every spring and summer."
Haridopolos said he supports the "big, beautiful bill's" NASA outlay, and congressional discussions remain "very early in the budget process" that will not wrap up until fall. Asked about NASA's science missions, he said he wants to hear return-on-investment details for taxpayers during upcoming House hearings to justify their spots in the budget.
"I'd imagine that most, if not all, would make that cut," Haridopolos said.
"I feel very good about our chances. People are acting like they've already lost. Historically, it's been the opposite. The initial number comes out, Congress works and does its best to fill any issues that might come up," he said.
"But these folks who are worried about these cuts need to really justify the program to make sure we can make it through these tough votes that are going to come up in the fall," he said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [e-mail]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Senate appropriations bill aims to protect NASA's budget from cutbacks