NASA gets Healthy 17.5 Billion Dollar 2015 Budget Submitted

March 5, 2014 - Editorial, Science, video - no comments

The President submitted a NASA budget of 17.5 Billion Dollars for Fiscal year 2015 as announced by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in the Video below:

Over the past six years, the Obama Administration has invested more than $100 billion in America’s space program, including the $17.5 billion that is part of this year’s budget. The President’s budget, once again, affirms the bi-partisan strategic exploration plan agreed to with the Congress in 2010.  The election-year blueprint is all but certain to be rejected by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and stands little chance of passage, but it does show a commitment to NASA and its programs.

This budget will allow NASA to continue a stepping stone approach to send humans to Mars in the 2030’s. It’s a path that has seen many recent successes,

  • The launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission last week
  • The first of an unprecedented five Earth Science launches this year
  • Returning space station resupply missions to U.S. soil with private American companies
  • The power-up of Orion and the countdown toward its first flight test later this year.
  • The final mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope being delivered

This budget keeps NASA’s deep space exploration program on track by funding the Space Launch System and Orion crew vehicle to take American astronauts farther into the solar system than we have ever gone before.  The stepping stone approach to sending humans to Mars involves continued research on the space station, testing new capabilities beyond the moon, exploring an asteroid and ultimately sending a crewed mission to the Red Planet.

This budget funds all elements of that stepping stone approach, and actually increases funding for space technology development and other efforts that will support the first crewed flight of SLS to an asteroid.

Related: Space Launch System (SLS) Completes Major Design Review.

In the coming year NASA will continue it’s work with science missions that will reach far into our solar system, reveal unknown aspects of our universe and provide critical knowledge about our home planet.  It includes funding for missions to Mars and the formulation for a mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. It also funds science missions already heading toward destinations such as Jupiter and Pluto and operating throughout the solar system, a mission to study our planet’s magnetic system, and steady progress on the James Webb Space Telescope.