US House Appropriations Committee saves NASA budget, Prez holds the veto pen

Mars Sample Return mission still for the chop

The US House Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that would maintain NASA's budget at the same level as last year. However, lawmakers missed an opportunity to strike out the proposed $85 million relocation of a space vehicle to Houston.

The approval contains amendments to restore some of the science that was set to be cut, including the New Horizons mission, Juno, and the Chandra X-ray observatory. The Senate Appropriations Committee went further, but it is clear that neither committee agrees with the downward funding direction of the US President's budget request for the space agency, particularly when it comes to the proposed axing of a large chunk of the agency's science programs.

Notably absent from the list of amendments was more funding for the Mars Sample Return mission, which is currently set for termination. The House Appropriations Committee bill could leave the project on life support, with millions to keep the lights on, if not the billions needed to move ahead with the mission. Getting samples back from Mars for analysis has taken on a new urgency after evidence hinting at possible life on the planet was unveiled earlier this week.

This isn't the end of the US budget process. More steps remain, and the final funding bill will still need to be signed by the US President – or vetoed.

Severe cuts to NASA's budget were proposed by the current US administration earlier this year, with science particularly badly hit and the Space Launch System set to be cancelled after the Artemis III Moon landing mission.

Reconciliation text released by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, restored some of NASA's budget, although mainly for human exploration, and included $85 million to relocate a space vehicle to Houston, widely believed to be a demand to move Space Shuttle Discovery from its current location at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Earlier this week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors took a vote in which it opposed a move of Discovery from the Smithsonian. (The Virginia space museum that currently houses Discovery is part of the Smithsonian.) The vote is significant, since any relocation of the space shuttle is likely to require the cooperation of the county. Assuming Discovery is to be transported by water, it would need to be towed through the county to reach a navigable portion of the Potomac River.

Getting Space Shuttle Endeavour through Los Angeles was a logistical nightmare. A move of Discovery will similarly need the support of local and state authorities.

This is assuming that Discovery is the lucky Space Shuttle. NASA has selected a vehicle should the relocation go ahead, but isn't saying which one. ®