NASA scored a major win in the massive budget bill unveiled last night by congressional leaders, according the U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).
NASA will get to continue its deep space exploration program and other priorities as $4.1 billion of the $1.1 trillion budget, is earmarked for exploration, enough to keep the new space launch system on track.
“This is a big win,” said Nelson, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that oversees the nation’s space program and is one of the leading architects of a plan to build a new monster rocket and crew capsule for deep space exploration.
Overall, the space agency would get $17.65 billion, which is significantly higher than the roughly $16.2 billion NASA would have received had the so-called sequester or across-the-board budget cuts remained in effect.
In addition to funding the space launch system, there’s also nearly $700 million for the continued development of commercial space ventures.
