Keith’s note: The House Appropriations Committee (chaired by Republicans) has released its FY2027 Commerce-Justice-Science bill which includes NASA, NSF, and NOAA [Summary] [Full Text] The bill asks for $24.4 billion for NASA. This amount is the almost exactly the same that NASA received in the enacted FY 2026 budget. Last year OMB submitted a FY 2026 Presidential Budget Request asking for $18.8 billion. That large gut was eventually reversed and increased to $24.4 billion – an amount mostly matching the amount NASA got for FY 2025. Apparently, not getting last year’s congressional message, OMB has asked for $18.8 billion for NASA in FY 2027. If last year was a feature – not a bug – then that OMB mark has a significant chance of being bumped upwards – again – perhaps to something close to the $24.4 billion. There is a mark-up hearing on this budget Thursday at 8:00 am EDT so we’ll see what’s likely to happen. Update: the committee approved its FY 2027 bill by a vote of 8 to 6. Republicans who were voting said ‘yes’ and all of Democrats voted against it.

Keith’s note: The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), will host a hearing with Jared Isaacman on the President’s fiscal year 2027 budget request for NASA on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at 10:00 am EDT in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 138. Livestream HERE.

Keith’s note: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

• Isaacman Statement
• Webcast

Keith’s note: the other day the Planetary Society just had their SaveNASAScience thing on Capitol Hill. Lotsof space advocates and actual space scientists walked the halls of Congress. Good on ya. More people should do this and not just on one certain day. Alas, neither the Planetary Society nor any of its participating organizations sent out media advisories. Tick tock. Yesterday there was a hearing with Jared Isaacman about NASA’s 2027 Presidential Budget Request. Among the most significant aspects of the budget is the second attempt in as many years by OMB and the White House to gut NASA science – of all kinds. Yet no mention was made – or coverage offered – by the Planetary Society or these groups (that I can find – please correct me on this). One day sugar-high events like the SaveNASAScience thing fade fast. 24 hours and *poof*. Yet it is important for organizations like The Planetary Society and individuals to be interacting with the day-to-day efforts, down in the weeds, where the rubber hits the road and actual budgets are crunched by those who would halt their damaging effects. This is a marathon, not a one day sprint for photo ops.

Keith’s note: there was a Review of the President’s Budget Request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Fiscal Year 2027 today. There was one witness: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. I live tweeted the hearing at @NASAWatch. Hearing charter and video below. Opening statements:

• Jared Isaacman
• Brian Babin
• Zoe Lofgren

Keith’s note: a letter was been sent by 4 Senators on 13 April 2026 letter to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies of the Senate Committee on Appropriations regarding NASA’s FY 2027 Science budget – specifically the Mars Sample Return mission. Full letter below

Keith’s note: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will be holding a hearing on Wednesday, 22 April: “A Review of the President’s Budget Request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Fiscal Year 2027” Update: according to Marcia Smith at @SpcPlcyOnline “House Appropriations CJS subcommittee will hold a hearing on NASA’s FY2027 budget request next Monday, Apr 27, 3:30 pm ET. The subcommittee will mark up the CJS bill on Thursday, Apr 30, at 8:00 am ET. Full cmte CJS markup is scheduled for May 13 at 11:00 am ET.” More below.

Keith’s Note: Last week we all had a moment to savor just how extraordinary the Artemis II mission was – not only for its technological prowess- but more importantly the sense of pride, wonder, and inspiration it generated here and across the world. So, how do we reward the team who did this? We – gut their budget – for the second year in a row -of course. Congratulations! A preview from the LA Times: A renewed threat to JPL as the Trump administration tries again to cut NASA.

Keith’s note: According to a release “Science Committee Democratic Staff Report Reveals Details on NASA’s Illegal Implementation of Trump’s FY2026 Budget Request Without Congressional Approval” – “A Presidential budget request means nothing until Congress acts on it,” said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren. “And in 2025, NASA implemented Trump’s budget proposal illegally, without any approval from Congress. The agency violated the basic separation-of-powers framework set forth in the Constitution. NASA’s actions derailed critical projects, demoralized its employees, and broke its trust with the scientific community and the private sector. NASA repeatedly denied what it was doing, but the facts prove otherwise. This staff report provides an overview of the evidence my team has gathered and highlights the damage NASA inflicted upon itself by yielding to pressure from OMB instead of following the law.” More below

Keith’s note: The President was on Fox the other day and was talking about NASA and said this in response to the ArtemisII mission … “I’m the one that started that program. NASA was closed. It was totally closed. There was grass growing on the runways. I went there. I was there in Florida. Got pictures of all of their facilities. They had grass growing out of their cracked asphalt in Florida and elsewhere. And you know I said this is terrible – let’s start it up. So we started it up and it gave great pride – everybody watched that the other day.” Bullshit. He did not start NASA’s program to return to the Moon. NASA was not “closed”. And for the past two fiscal years in a row he has put forth a budget request that would cripple large parts of NASA. But NASA’s Press Secretary Bethany Stevens @NASASpox and AA for Communications Will Boyington @Will_Bo simply amplified it on their Twitter accounts – with no comments i.e. tacit approval. And @NASAAdmin approved of it as well. There is a hearing on NASA’s FY 2027 budget next week which might be interesting. Or not.

Keith’s note: Last year NASA was going through a brutal downsizing effort. To make things worse The Administration’s budget request for FY 2026 would have imposed draconian cuts to NASA. Now the White House is as it again with proposed budget FY 2027 cuts that would cripple large parts of NASA. I needed your financial support last year to keep NASAWatch running. I need help again. I tried to retire but … I am not drawing any salary from this. The funds go to what it takes to run the site and add new talent to it. NASAWatch is a tiny presence when it comes to immense NASA. Sometimes it squeaks with a loud voice – thanks to you.

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Keith’s note: According to a press release from Planetary Science Caucus Co-Chairs Chu and Bacon: “Last week, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request, which proposes to cut NASA’s overall budget by 23% and cut NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) by 47%. This request would also terminate more than 40 space missions, including the Mars Sample Return mission led by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a first-of-its-kind mission to return samples from Mars to Earth and unlock groundbreaking insights into the planet’s history and the potential for past life.” More below

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman was on CNN’s State of the Union today talking about Artemis II, NASA’s FY 2027 budget proposals, and … life in the universe. [Audio] He was also on CBS’ Face The Nation today talking about Artemis II and NASA’s FY 2027 budget proposals [Audio].

Keith’s note: The following note was sent to NASA employees by Jared Isaacman today: his take home quote: “I encourage the workforce to leave the politics for the politicians and remain focused on the mission.“ Full text below.

Keith’s note: Last night NASA and White House cheered the TLI burn to send Artemis II to the Moon. Less than 12 hrs later – on Good Friday (and Passover) when people aren’t at work – OMB drops a massive punitive cut to NASA. What a nice way to say “well done NASA“. I can’t wait to see how NASA PAO spins this one.

Keith’ note: Today’s OMB FY 2027 budget request drop can be summarized (by me) as follows: ‘We’re on our way back to the Moon for the first time in half a century. We’e going to dominate space. Let’s celebrate by gutting the remainder of NASA’s budget to show how much we actually support space exploration.’

• According to Space Policy Online: “the Trump Administration’s FY2027 budget request for NASA proposes deep cuts to everything other than human exploration. For FY2027, the agency would be cut 23 percent to $18.8 billion, the same level the White House proposed for FY2026. Congress rejected the FY2026 proposal and kept the agency funded at roughly the same level as FY2025. Whether they will do that again this year remains to be seen. … for NASA, it says it supports “the safe and timely return of Americans to the Moon and funds first elements of a permanent American presence on the lunar surface,” while cutting “unnecessary and overpriced activities.”

• According to NASA FY 2027 Budget Request from OMB Pages 67-69: “The Budget continues to support the safe and timely return of Americans to the Moon and funds the first elements of a permanent American presence on the lunar surface. Across the board, the Budget leverages the expertise and ingenuity of America’s commercial space industry to advance the Nation’s interests in space. By cutting unnecessary and overpriced activities, the Budget strengthens the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) focus and ensures that every dollar spent propels America’s dominance in the final frontier. The Budget requests $18.8 billion in discretionary budget authority for NASA for 2027, a $5.6 billion or 23-percent decrease from the 2026 enacted level.”

Keith’s note: the following is circulating on space social media platforms: 🚨 HELIOPHYSICS ALERT 🚨 Steel yourselves, #heliophysics friends. I need to share some deeply concerning news about the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). NASA has laid out a budget trajectory for the mission that should alarm everyone in the heliophysics community. We already are experiencing an 18% retroactive cut for FY26. But now we’re being asked to plan for more in our upcoming Senior Review: Full post below

Keith’s note: the other day NASA press Secretary Bethany Stevens @NASASpox said “We continue to embrace President Trump’s open science commitment as an agency. We have fostered open science since our inception so that the public can build upon our innovations. We continue to make all NASA data publicly available, and welcome public participation using our data.” Meanwhile NASA SMD is looking to exactly the opposite and cut funding for access to that very same data. According to an online petition “We are urging NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Directorate to reverse the 2025 reductions to the NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) and GeneLab, including the GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory (SPL). OSDR is NASA’s primary source for understanding space biology, containing a shared library and lab system housing nearly 600 studies across 45 species. Over 1,000 researchers worldwide have produced more than 160 published papers using OSDR data, mostly through volunteer effort, multiplying the return on investment. The cuts also threaten the SPL, which provides the consistent methods needed to compare biological results across missions, and training programs for hundreds of students for careers in space science. Decades of NASA-funded work is at risk. Restoring funding is essential to protect that investment and keep future astronauts safe.” More below.

Keith’s note: the following memo “Guidance to Limit Commitments in Advance of SMD Apportionment” was sent out yesterday to NASA center CFOs. Full memo below.