NASA: FY2017 Budget and Appropriations

Summary

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act (P.L. 85-568) to conduct civilian space and aeronautics activities. It has four mission directorates. The Science Mission Directorate manages robotic science missions, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars rover Curiosity, and satellites for Earth science research. The Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate conducts research and development on aircraft and aviation systems. The Space Technology Mission Directorate develops new technologies for use in future space missions, such as advanced propulsion and laser communications. The Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate is responsible for human spaceflight activities, including the International Space Station and development efforts for future crewed spacecraft. In addition, NASA’s Office of Education manages formal and informal education programs for school children, college and university students, and the general public.

While Congress is generally supportive of most NASA programs, government-wide fiscal constraints make funding decisions challenging. The Administration has requested $19.025 billion for NASA in FY2017. This amount is 1.3% less than the FY2016 appropriation of $19.285 billion. Unusually, the FY2017 request includes $763 million in mandatory funds. According to NASA, the reason for requesting mandatory funding is that “the constrained top line for discretionary funding ... has made it difficult to appropriately fund important national priorities, including research and development.”

The FY2017 request for the Science Mission Directorate is $5.601 billion, an increase of 0.2% from FY2016. Within this total, funding for Earth Science, Astrophysics, and Heliophysics would increase, while funding for Planetary Science and the James Webb Space Telescope would decrease. The request for Earth Science includes $131 million for Landsat-9. The request for Planetary Science includes $50 million for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The FY2017 request for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is $790 million, an increase of 23.5% from FY2016. The request includes New Aviation Horizons (NAH), a new initiative of experimental aircraft and systems demonstrations.

The FY2017 request for the Space Technology Mission Directorate is $827 million, an increase of 20.4% from FY2016. The request includes funding for the Restore-L satellite servicing mission.

For the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, the FY2017 request for Exploration is $3.337 billion, a decrease of 17.2% from FY2016, while the request for Space Operations is $5.076 billion, an increase of 0.9%. The Exploration request includes $1.263 billion, a decrease of 35.2%, for Space Launch System launch vehicle development. Funding for the commercial crew program (formerly requested in Exploration) is combined with funding for operational cargo and crew transport to the International Space Station in a new Space Transportation item within Space Operations.

The FY2017 request for the Office of Education is $100 million, a decrease of 13.0% from FY2016. The request includes $24 million for the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, $9 million for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and $30 million for the Minority University Research Education Program.

This report will be updated as Congress acts on FY2017 appropriations legislation.