KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Forty years after John Young and Bob Crippen flew the first space shuttle, funding the future of America’s space program looks promising.
If the proposed White House budget is approved as it stands now, it would be a $1.5 billion increase for NASA from last year.
“This $24.7 billion funding request demonstrates the Biden administration’s commitment to NASA and its partners who have worked so hard this past year under difficult circumstances and achieved unprecedented success,” acting administrator Steve Jurczyk said.
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President Biden’s request asks Congress for almost $7 billion to support moon missions.
That would be a $325 million increase of the current allocation for the Artemis program.
The Trump administration directed NASA to land on the moon by 2024.
The Biden White House has not announced if it’s sticking with that timeline.
SpacUpClose.com editor Ken Kremer said the budget shows the administration is strongly supporting NASA, but it’s not perfect.
“The one thing in this budget that we need more money for is the human landing systems,” Kremer said.
The proposal also includes funding Mars sample return missions following the Perseverance rover landing.
Over the weekend, NASA delayed attempting to fly the rover’s helicopter it says because of an issue with the flight computer.
NASA now says the first flight on another world could happen Wednesday.
The federal government will work to finalize a full budget before the end of September.