The Trump administration proposed an $18.8B fiscal 2027 budget for NASA—a 23% decrease from the funding level enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026.
The budget proposal includes the same top line as the administration’s fiscal 2026 request, and would make similar cuts to NASA’s science and STEM missions.
- It comes just one week after NASA announced a significant shift in its Artemis program, including a proposal to establish a lunar base and plans to launch to the Moon monthly with robotic landers and biannually with crew.
- The budget also arrived hours after the Artemis II astronauts, flying the first lunar crewed mission since 1972, made a critical in-space engine burn to later fly around the Moon.
Key numbers: Here are some high-level funding numbers in the White House document:
- $8.5B for Artemis, fully funding the landers, suits, and transportation that will be required for lunar operations;
- $175M for robotic missions to start establishing a lunar base camp, plus allowing NASA to repurpose funding for the now-canceled Gateway for operations on the Moon’s surface;
- $109M to shift NASA’s Landsat EO program to commercial providers;
- $3.4B in science cuts through eliminating 40+ missions;
- $297M reduction in space tech
- $1.1B cut to ISS spending, as the orbiting lab reaches the end of its lifespan—even though NASA’s new plan in LEO is to attach commercial modules to the government habitat;
- $143M in STEM cuts.
History repeats itself: The president proposes, but Congress disposes—and if the past is precedent, NASA can expect more money to be flowing in the door.
For fiscal 2026, the White House proposed an $18.8B budget. After lengthy debates on Capitol Hill—and an advocacy push from space-science organizations—Congress passed a $24.4B NASA budget in January, largely rejecting the severe cuts in the administration’s plan.
Cut the fat: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has not yet commented on the budget release, as of publishing time. However, when asked last week about if his ambitious lunar plans had been taken into account in the fiscal 2027 request, Isaacman emphasized that the agency needs to spend smarter—not spend more.
“We don’t have a top-line problem,” Isaacman said at a press conference March 24. “This is about allocation of our resources in line with the president’s objective, and then doing it as efficiently as you possibly can.”
War room: The White House also released some high level details of its $1.5T DoD budget request, but more details—including Space Force funding levels—are expected to be released later this month.
“The budget prioritizes funding to secure and defend America’s vital national and economic security interests in, from, and to space,” the budget document says. “Space investments encompass efforts in support of the Golden Dome for America, America’s launch infrastructure, and classified programs.”
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