Keith’s note: Here are the NASA excerpts from the FY 2026 Budget outline – “Support Space Flight. The Budget refocuses National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funding on beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars. By allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, the Budget ensures that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient. To achieve these objectives, the Budget would streamline the NASA workforce, information technology services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities. The Budget also terminates multiple unaffordable missions and reduces lower priority research, resulting in a leaner Science program that reflects a commitment to fiscal responsibility.”

• Mars Sample Return: cancelled
• SLS and Orion: cancelled after 3 flights
• Gateway: cancelled
• Landsat Next mission: descoped
• Climate monitoring satellites: cancelled
• Space Technology: 50% cut
• ISS: reduce crew and science, splash in 2030
• Green Aviation: gone
• STEM/Education: Its woke so its gone.
• HAPPY NATIONAL SPACE DAY!

Keith’s 30 April note: At today’s meeting of MEPAG a NASA speaker said that that an outline or top-level aka “skinny” budget for FY 2026 might be released in the next few days. The full-blown, formal FY 2026 budget proposal will probably not come out until the end of May. Keith’s 1 May Update: the White House is going to release FY 2026 budget information on Friday.

Keith’s note: the following letter was sent on 30 April 2025 to House and Senate leaders: “Dear Chairmen Moran and Rogers, and Ranking Members Van Hollen and Meng: We write to express our profound alarm to the reported Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal emerging from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to cut an astonishing 47% of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) budget in a single year.

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator was just reported favorably out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (full committee) by a vote of 19 – 9 . There was no discussion. It is now up to the full Senate to vote on this confirmation. Given curent standoff between Democrats and Republicans with regard to nominees this may take some time to happen. Democrats are not allowing unanimous consent, so confirming people now requires quorum calls and roll call votes which can slow down the process.

Keith’s note: a full committee executive session of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will convene a full committee Executive Session on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 10:00 am EDT to consider nominations and legislation – including that of Jared Isaacman. The agency will stream the hearing on NASA+, and the committee will stream it on its website. Oh yes – NASA PAO wants you to know that lots of people support Isaacman (see below).

Keith’s note: NASA and ESA are celebrating Hubble’s 35th birthday today. But the next 5 birthdays will be sad. According to space science community sources the pending budget from OMB orders NASA to start shutting Hubble off ASAP with a 20% budget cut in the next year’s budget with a zeroed budget after 5 years (2030). Grant money will evaporate. ACS, WFC3 IR channel, STIS CCD, will be turned off. Instrument scientists, software developers and flight controllers will be laid off. Oh well. Its been fun Hubble. Oh yes: NASA Roman is toast too. Lots of people would like to weigh in on this and other science cuts but they cannot. For now.

Keith’s note: According to this press release issued on Monday by Rep. Judy Chu CA-28, whose district includes JPL and Caltech: “Today, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reportedly sent a preliminary budget plan to NASA that proposes a 50% cut to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and to eliminate funding for the Mars Sample Return (MRS) mission led by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is owned by NASA and administered by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).” Full text below.

Keith’s note: NASA has led space science and “Made America Great In Space” for more than half a century. Let’s not let that science leadership fade. Let’s expand it further. NASA has led the way by:

• touching the sun
• visiting every planet in our solar system
• sending humans to walk on another world
• doing the first offworld search for life
• moving an asteroid
• finding water on the Moon and Mars
• discovering oceans inside icy moons
• sailing across interstellar space
• peering back to the dawn of the universe
• developing a global brand that all nations aspire to

Keith’s note: people have been talking about cuts to NASA – specifically science and most specifically Earth/Climate science for a while. It stems back too the overt anti-science statements and plans made in the Project 2025 effort. Now, Ars Technical has pulled that all together with the actual budget passback document as a guide. So there it is folks. Now we have numbers. Even if Congress and the White House pull some of this back, NASA’s science portfolio will be gutted and the impact will last for a very long time. And this affects more than just the science crowd. Fewer science missions means fewer launches and that directly affects the KSC civil servant and contractor workforce. The same goes for fewer payloads since the NASA centers and allied research institutions that build and operate payloads will be hit hard too. As science starts to dry up, the need for future commercial space stations will start to fade since the science they are supposed to be doing will be gone. Add in congressional intent to keep ISS operational until 2030, and the commercial space station thing will need to find all of its money elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Big Aerospace firms are uninterested in any of the personnel things – unless it affects their bottom line. Even then they remain mostly silent. Cuts like this assure that when it comes to space science NASA will NOT “make space great again”. So let’s “Embrace The Challenge”, as Janet Petro still says.

Keith’s note: the following are the realtime social media quotes I posted on @NASAWatch regarding the salient points of today’s confirmation hearing for Jared Isaacman. And yes, he said that reads NASAWatch. (sigh) I’m never going to retire, am I?

Keith’s note: According to Opening Remarks by Jared Isaacman in advance of his confirmation hearing:

“On that note, NASA is the most accomplished and respected space agency in the world—but for all of NASA’s historic achievements, the agency is not without challenges:

• Presidents have called for a return to the Moon and a path to Mars since 1989 and well over a hundred billion has been spent without the intended results.
• Most programs—new telescopes, rovers, X-planes, or entire spaceships—are over budget and behind schedule.
• This is discouraging because people look up at the stars and wonder what is out there today, not decades down the road.”

Full statement below

Keith’s note: According to this press release “Committee Leaders Demand Answers from NASA on DOGE Access After the Agency Refuses to Comply with Investigation“ specific instances of DOGE employees (who are named) with unparalleled access to NASA sensitive information have been identified. NASA has not been forth coming in their responses to earlier Congressional inquires in this regard. Now Congress wants answers, saying “The information we have reviewed of NASA’s vulnerability to DOGE-related threats is chilling.” Full release and letter below:

Keith’s note: according to NASA: “Jared Isaacman is set to participate in a hearing to become the next NASA administrator at 10 am EDT on Wednesday, April 9, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The agency will stream the hearing on NASA+, and the committee will stream it on its website and YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content on a variety of agency platforms, including social media.”

Keith’s note: According to House Democrats probe Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest with NASA, Axios: “Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) and Rep. Gery Connolly (D-Va.) sent a letter to Iris Lan, NASA’s chief legal officer, requesting information and documents by April 21. They asked how NASA is ensuring that Musk isn’t exploiting the agency to enrich himself and his companies, which they said would violate ethics rules for his position as a special government employee. … “Mr. Isaacson’s fortune is tied to Shift4, the payments processing company he controls. In 2021, Shift4 entered into a partnership with Starlink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Musk’s SpaceX. Shift4 estimated that its partnership with SpaceX will generate $100 billion in Starlink subscription payments.” Full letter text below.

Keith’s note: For all of you Space Symposium fans who think we’re on the verge of a commerce golden age in space or that U.S. will #MakeSpaceGreatAgain and devote big bucks to space science, Moon, Mars, new space stations, Space Force etc. Just look at what the tariff thing did in mere days to our economy. Do the math. Where is the money going to come from? Discuss this among yourselves.

Keith’s note: according to “Senate Commerce Announces Hearing for NASA, FCC Nominees“: “U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nominations hearing for Jared Isaacman, nominee to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration … at 10:00 AM EST on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.”

Keith’s note: This hearing starts Tuesday morning at 10:00 am EDT House Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing – Leveraging Commercial Innovation for Lunar Exploration: A Review of NASA’s CLPS Initiative and will be webcast live.

Keith’s note: The Aerospace Industries Association just put put their self-serving and totally anodyne “Space Priorities 2025“. Its all bland happy talk – as if nothing was really happening these days when it comes to the health and well being of the aerospace sector. With all of the swirling concern over budget cuts, program cancellations, and layoffs, you’d think that a non-profit established to be concerned about the aerospace sector would be a little more proactive in discussing these threats. Guess again.

Keith’s note: according to a press release by House Science Democrats: “The missions of these agencies are critical to the health, safety, and prosperity of the American people,” said the Members. “Our devoted public servants make those missions possible. If you take away the workforce, what are you left with? DOGE will stop at nothing to slash and burn core functions of our federal science agencies at the altar of their twisted idea of ‘efficiency.’ This must stop.” … “The bills would institute RIF moratoriums at the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” (includes bill texts).