Congressional deliberations about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) often focus on the availability of funding. This fact sheet provides data on past, current, and proposed FY2019 NASA appropriations, as well as authorizations for FY2019 appropriations.

Additional information on appropriations legislation affecting NASA is provided in CRS Report R45237, Overview of FY2019 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), and similar reports for prior years.¹ See also CRS In Focus IF10940, The James Webb Space Telescope; CRS In Focus IF10828, The International Space Station (ISS) and the Administration's Proposal to End Direct NASA Funding by 2025; and the discussion of NASA's use of commercial space capabilities in CRS Report R45416, Commercial Space: Federal Regulation, Oversight, and Utilization.

Table 1 shows appropriations for NASA from FY2013 through FY2018. The data for FY2013 through FY2017 include supplemental appropriations, rescissions, transfers, reprogramming, and, in the case of FY2013, sequestration. They are taken from NASA's congressional budget justifications for FY2015 through FY2019.²Contents

• Overview

Overview

Congressional deliberations about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) often focus on the availability of funding. This fact sheet provides data on past and current NASA appropriations, as well as the President's budget request for FY2020.

Table 1 shows appropriations for NASA from FY2014 through FY2019. The data for FY2014 through FY2018 include supplemental appropriations, rescissions, transfers, and reprogramming. They are taken from NASA's congressional budget justifications for FY2016 through FY2020.¹ Congressional budget justifications are available on the NASA budget website (http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/) for the current year and for past years back to FY2002. The table data for FY2018FY2019 are as enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 20182019 (P.L. 115-141116-6). For amounts not specified in that act, see pages H2094-H2096 of the explanatory statement, published in the Congressional Record on March 22, 2018the conference report, H.Rept. 116-9.

Table 2 shows FY2018 appropriations, as above; the Administration's request for FY2019; FY2019 amounts recommended in the 115^th Congress by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations; FY2019 amounts that would be appropriated by H.R. 21 as passed by the House on January 4, 2019; and FY2019 amounts that would have been authorized by House and Senate authorization bills in the 115^th Congress. The Trump Administration's budget request for FY2019 adopted a new account structure for NASA. Proposed name changes are indicated in the table notes. In addition, the Administration proposed to transfer certain activities from the Deep Space Exploration Systems account (currently Exploration) to the Exploration Research and Technology account (currently Space Technology) so the amounts shown for those items represent somewhat different content in different columns.

Figure 1 shows NASA's total annual budget authority from the agency's establishment in FY1958 to FY2018, in both current dollars and inflation-adjusted FY2018 dollars.

Figure 1. NASA Funding, FY1958-FY2018

Source: Compiled by CRS. FY1958-FY2008 from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2008 Activities, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep2008.pdf, Table D-1A. FY2009-FY2012 from NASA congressional budget justifications, FY2011-FY2014. FY2013-FY2018 as in Table 1. Current dollars deflated to FY2018 dollars using GDP (chained) price index from President's budget for FY2019, Historical Table 10.1, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hist10z1-fy2019.xlsx. Note: Transition quarter between FY1976 and FY1977 not shown.

Footnotes

  FY2019Enacted                                                                                                                                                                        

Figure 1. NASA Funding, FY1958-FY2019 Source: Compiled by CRS. FY1958-FY2008 from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2008 Activities, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep2008.pdf, Table D-1A. FY2009-FY2012 from NASA congressional budget justifications, FY2011-FY2014. FY2013-FY2019 as in Table 1. Current dollars deflated to FY2019 dollars using GDP (chained) price index from President's budget for FY2019, Historical Table 10.1, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hist10z1-fy2019.xlsx.

Note: Transition quarter between FY1976 and FY1977 not shown.

Author Contact Information

Footnotes

FY2016 and FY2017 Education amounts are not shown in the FY2018 and FY2019 congressional budget justifications and are instead taken from the explanatory statement for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113), Congressional Record, December 17, 2015, pp. H9741-H9743, and the explanatory statement for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31), Congressional Record, May 3, 2017, pp. H3374-H3375.

1.	See, for example, CRS Report R44877, Overview of FY2018 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS); CRS Report R44409, Overview of FY2017 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS); CRS Report R43918, Overview of FY2016 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS); CRS Report R43509, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2015 Appropriations; CRS Report R43080, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2014 Appropriations; CRS Report R42440, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2013 Appropriations.
2.	See text for name changes and variations in program content. a. $305 million included in Astrophysics. Table 3. NASA Appropriations, FY2020 (budget authority in $ millions)	FY2020 Appropriations				Request	House	Senate	Enacted	Science	$6,906	$6,304	Earth Science	1,931	1,780	Planetary Science	2,759	2,622	Astrophysics	1,192	845	James Webb Space Telescope	305	353	Heliophysics	720	705	Aeronautics	725	667	Space Tech. / Exploration Tech.	927	1,014	Exploration / Deep Sp. Exp. Sys.	5,051	5,022	Exploration Systems Development	4,093	3,442	Orion	1,350	1,266	Space Launch System	2,150	1,775	Exploration Ground Systems	593	400	Exploration R&D	958	1,580	Space Ops. / LEO and Spflt. Ops.	4,639	4,286	International Space Station	n/s	1,458	Space Transportation	n/s	1,829	Space and Flight Support	n/s	849	Commercial LEO Development	40	150	STEM Engagement	110	0	Space Grant	44	0	EPSCoR	21	0	MUREP	33	0	Other	12	0	Safety, Security, & Mission Svcs.	2,755	3,085	Construction and EC&R	348	600	Inspector General	39	42	Total	21,500	21,019	1.