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: today the Artemis II crew and Jared Isaacman went to see the president in the Oval Office. This was the crew’s second visit to the Oval Office In 2003 they met with President Biden and talked about their mission and the Moon rock that was on display. Today they met with President Trump. After some initial comments about the actual Moon mission, all that the media – and President Trump – seemed to be interested in was UFOS, Ukraine, Iran, Russia, Putin, Comey, Supreme Court, the Voting Rights Act, fake news, mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers, Farm Bill, nukes,  auto plants, tariffs, trade, Congress, border control, NATO and everything but the Artemis II mission to the Moon and back – the first time this has been done in half a century. A transcript from CSPAN of what was said is included below. NASA/Artemis comments by the President are highlighted in red. Jared Isaacman/NASA comments are highlighted in blue. There is not much in the way of red. Very little blue. More below

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: 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 Update: Hey NASA Goddard GESTA IFPTE Local 29 – You have said nothing about this. You should be beating the bushes to find supportive input for this. If you won’t stand up for yourselves then why expect others to do so? You have 4 days left to provide/promote input. Keith’s earlier note: According to the National Academies: “The National Academies are seeking suggestions for experts to participate in a new Congressionally mandated consensus study tasked with conducting a high-level assessment of current technical and scientific capabilities housed at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), what capabilities are positioned to ensure long-term success of the NASA mission—including for future cutting-edge scientific discovery and crewed space exploration—and what facilities are needed to house and operate those capabilities.” More below

Keith’s note: according to a new NASA OIG report “NASA’s Acquisition of Next-Generation Spacesuit Services“: “NASA faces challenges in ensuring next-generation spacesuits are available to meet the Agency’s current schedules for the Artemis lunar landing mission in 2028 and prior to the ISS’s decommissioning in 2030. NASA’s original schedules to demonstrate the lunar and microgravity spacesuits in 2025 and 2026, respectively, were overly optimistic and ultimately proved unachievable, as evidenced by delays of at least a year and a half for both spacesuits. Based on our analysis, if Axiom experiences design and testing delays in line with the historical average for recent space flight programs, the Artemis and ISS demonstrations may not occur until 2031.” …“if Axiom cannot satisfy its contractual requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner, then NASA could be forced to continue using the problematic EMUs throughout the life of the ISS and significantly adjust its lunar plans.” Keith’s Update: @NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman just posted this response to @NASAOIG: “Very much appreciate the OIG work. As I posted months ago, NASA is not taking a passive role in any component of America’s return to the lunar surface and building a Moon base. We are reviewing where NASA can do better, how we can provide relief where appropriate to burdensome requirements, where we can expand capabilities over time (Apollo 11’s EVA profile was very different than Apollo 17), and where we can help industry by inserting NASA SMEs and driving the intended outcomes. I am confident that when NASA is ready to land on the Moon in 2028, our astronauts will be wearing Axiom suits. There will always be lessons learned as we improve across NASA and industry, and we need to be mindful of the contracting approach to stimulate a market versus jumping to an as-a-service model where NASA may be the only customer for the foreseeable future. That places a significant capital burden on providers while they wait for additional demand to materialize. A successful approach for commercial crew and cargo, underpinned by launch, does not mean it is applicable to every space-related service. The orbital and lunar economy is inevitable. We just need to be thoughtful in our approach to sustainably enable it.”

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.