Why was nasa defunded

The Mariner space probes of Mars in and were followed by the Mariner probe of the planet Mercury in In Pioneer 10 began its successful year and one-half journey to the planet Jupiter.

Pioneer 11 repeated the journey in and then flew toward the planet Saturn. A Viking probe of Mars in was followed by a Voyager flight to Jupiter in and a Pioneer probe of Venus in These and other flights to the planets of our solar system marked a period of intensive study of the planets in search of knowledge that could explain the mysteries of the earth itself. Concurrently with the exploration of the planets, NASA was pursuing programs that had tangible and immediate impact on earth-related problems.

In the s, a number of satellites were launched into orbit around the earth. These satellites, such as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite launched in July , scanned the earth and provided real-time information on such topics as crop inventory and crop health, water storage, air and water pollution, forest diseases and forest fires, and coastal and oceanic movements.

Although unmanned satellites performed the bulk of research in space, manned space flight was not neglected. Instead of sending [ 5 ] astronauts on a distant journey to the planets, however, NASA's Skylab project called for man to live and perform experiments in a space laboratory orbiting around the earth. The Skylab, an unmanned space workshop, was launched by a Saturn V rocket and placed into an earth orbit in May Eleven days later, a manned Apollo command and service module combination was launched into orbit by another Saturn rocket and docked with the workshop.

The first crew spent twenty-eight days aboard the Skylab, proving that humans could live and work in space. Increasingly, the satellites put into orbit by NASA during this period were performing research and experiments for other Government agencies, private corporations, and even foreign governments.

The increased cooperation in space exploration between the United States and other countries led to one of the more striking feats in space. The two spacecraft then proceeded to exchange crews and conduct joint experiments.

In its second decade of existence, from to , NASA achieved notable successes. The skinny budget does not provide numbers for individual projects, but it does specifically mention setting aside discretionary funds for NASA's Mars sample return mission as a follow up to the Perseverance rover , which landed on Mars Feb. Funds are also set aside to continue work on the planned Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon and the Dragonfly quadcopter mission to Saturn's moon Titan.

Also mentioned by name is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope , the agency's next flagship observatory after the James Webb Space Telescope, which is due to launch later this year. No NASA missions appear to be on the chopping block given the limited details on offer in the preliminary document, a departure from the last four years under the Trump administration.

The new document also highlights increases in NASA's space technology research and development program and aeronautics research. Meanwhile, the National Science Foundation's section of the skinny budget specifies continuing support for the construction of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. The section does not reference the agency's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico; the facility's massive radio telescope collapsed in December after a series of structural failures.

Biden's staffers across the executive branch will continue fleshing out the administration's budgetary priorities and developing line-item entries.

In the meantime, the budget committees in each house of Congress will begin evaluating the skinny budget and establishing the total discretionary budget. Other committees within the legislature will be focused on how to appropriate that total budget to individual programs and agencies. The budget specifies funding amounts for programs and projects in human spaceflight, space science, aeronautics, technology development, and education.

NASA's budget peaked during the Apollo program in the s. The vertical axis displays NASA's total congressional appropriation in billions of dollars. The horizontal axis is fiscal years. Detailed data including outlays, alternate inflation indicies, non-inflation adjusted numbers, and White House budget requests are available to view or to download as an Excel spreadsheet. NASA is internally divided into major program areas, each of which receives funding to manage their own projects.

None of NASA's budget is used for national defense or intelligence gathering programs; it is a civilian agency responsible for the peaceful exploration of space. National security space programs are the responsibility of a handful of other agencies , most notably the Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. The White House provides a detailed budget proposal to Congress every February which kicks off an annual process known as "appropriations" , which ultimately results in legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President that funds the federal government.