NASA Appropriations and Authorizations:
A Fact Sheet
Daniel Morgan
Specialist in Science and Technology Policy
June 4, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R43419
NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet
n the current fiscal environment, congressional deliberations about the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) often focus on the availability of funding. This fact sheet
Iprovides data on past and current NASA appropriations as well as proposed NASA
appropriations for FY2015 and proposed authorizations of NASA appropriations for FY2015 and
FY2016.
NASA issues of congressional interest are discussed further in CRS Report R43144, NASA:
Issues for Authorization, Appropriations, and Oversight in the 113th Congress. Additional
information on appropriations legislation affecting NASA is provided in CRS Report R43509,
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2015 Appropriations, and similar reports
for other years.1
Table 1 shows appropriations for NASA from FY2010 through FY2014. The data for FY2010
through FY2013 include supplemental appropriations, rescissions, transfers, reprogramming, and,
in the case of FY2013, sequestration. They are taken from NASA’s congressional budget
justifications for FY2012 through FY2015. Congressional budget justifications are available on
the NASA website (http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/) for the current year and for previous
years back to FY2002. The table data for FY2014 are as enacted by the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76), before any reprogramming or other modifications. For
amounts not specified in the act, see pp. H515-H517 of the joint explanatory statement, published
in the Congressional Record on January 15, 2014.
Table 2 shows enacted appropriations for FY2014 (as above); the Administration’s request for
FY2015 and additional FY2015 funds proposed under the Opportunity, Growth, and Security
Initiative (as given in NASA’s FY2015 congressional budget justification); FY2015
appropriations proposed in H.R. 4660 as passed by the House on May 30, 2014; and the
authorizations of appropriations for FY2015 and FY2016 in three versions of the NASA
Authorization Act of 2013: the House majority bill (H.R. 2687) as ordered reported on July 18,
2013 (does not include amounts for FY2016); the Senate majority bill (S. 1317) as ordered
reported on July 30, 2013; and the House minority bill (H.R. 2616) as introduced on July 8, 2013.
Because FY2014 appropriations were enacted on January 17, 2014, the amounts that these three
authorization bills would authorize for FY2014 are not shown.2
Figure 1 shows NASA’s total annual budget authority from the agency’s establishment in
FY1958 to FY2014, in both current dollars and inflation-adjusted FY2014 dollars.
1 See, for example, CRS Report R43080, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2014 Appropriations;
CRS Report R42440, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2013 Appropriations; CRS Report
R41721, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2012 Appropriations; CRS Report R41161, Commerce,
Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2011 Appropriations; and CRS Report R40644, Commerce, Justice,
Science, and Related Agencies: FY2010 Appropriations.
2 A fourth bill, the NASA Authorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4412), was ordered reported by a voice vote of the House
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 29, 2014, and may effectively supersede H.R. 2687 and H.R.
2616. H.R. 4412 is not included in the table as it would authorize appropriations only for FY2014.
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NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet
Table 1. NASA Appropriations, FY2010-FY2014
(budget authority in $ millions)
FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014
Science
$4,498 $4,920 $5,074 $4,782 $5,151
Earth Science
1,439
1,722
1,761
1,659
1,826
Planetary Science
1,364
1,451
1,501
1,275
1,345
Astrophysics
647
631
648
617
668
James Webb Space Telescope
439
477
519
628
658
Heliophysics
608
639
645
603
654
Aeronautics
497 534 569 530 566
Space
Technology
275 456 574 615 576
Exploration
3,626 3,821 3,707 3,706 4,113
Exploration Systems Development
3,288
2,982
3,002
2,884
3,115
- Orion MPCV
—
1,196
1,200
1,114
1,197
- Space Launch System
—
1,536
1,497
1,415
1,600
- Exploration Ground Systems
—
250
305
355
318
Commercial Spaceflight
39
607
406
525
696
Exploration R&D
299
232
300
297
302
Space
Operations
6,142 5,146 4,184 3,725 3,778
Space Shuttle
3,101
1,593
596
39
—a
International Space Station
2,313
2,714
2,790
2,776
—a
Space and Flight Support
728
840
798
910
—a
Education
180 145 136 116 117
Space Grant
46
46
39
37
40
EPSCoR
25
25
17
17
18
MUREP
31
29
30
28
30
Other
79
47
50
34
29
Cross-Agency
Support
3,018 2,956 2,994 2,711 2,793
Construction and EC&R
453
433
495
661b 515
Inspector
General
36 36 38 35 38
Total 18,724
18,448
17,770c 16,879b 17,647
Sources: FY2010-FY2013 from NASA FY2012-FY2015 congressional budget justifications. FY2014 from P.L.
113-76 and pp. H515-H517 of the joint explanatory statement, Congressional Record, January 15, 2014.
Notes: Some totals may not add because of rounding. MPCV = Multipurpose Crew Vehicle. R&D = Research
and Development. EPSCoR = Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. MUREP = Minority
University Research Education Program. EC&R = Environmental Compliance and Remediation.
a. Not specified in P.L. 113-76 or the joint explanatory statement. As of March 10, 2014, NASA’s operating
plan for FY2014 included no funding for Space Shuttle, $2,964 million for International Space Station, and
$812 million for Space and Flight Support, with the remaining $2 mil ion transferred to other accounts.
b. Includes $14 million (after sequestration) of supplemental funding from the Disaster Relief Appropriations
Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-2) that is not shown in the NASA FY2015 congressional budget justification.
c. Includes rescission of $1 million from prior-year accounts not shown in the table.
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NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet
Table 2. NASA Appropriations, FY2014-FY2015, and Authorizations, FY2015-FY2016
(budget authority in $ millions)
Appropriations
Authorizations
H.R.
FY2014
FY2015
2687
S. 1317
H.R. 2616
Enacted Request OGSI House FY2015 FY2015 FY2016 FY2015 FY2016
Science
$5,151 $4,972 $187 $5,193 $4,627 $5,234 $5,316 $5,293 $5,306
Earth Science
1,826
1,770
—
1,750
1,200
1,836
1,872
1,855
1,849
Planetary Science
1,345
1,280
—
1,450
1,500
1,450
1,500
1,500
1,500
Astrophysics
668 607 — 680 642 670 687 660 700
James Webb Space Tel.
658
645
—
645
658
645
620
645
620
Heliophysics
654 669 — 668 626 633 637 633 637
Aeronautics
566 551 44 666 566 581 593 581 594
Space
Technology
576 706
100 627 500 650 665 645 720
Exploration
4,113 3,976 350 4,167 4,007 4,522 4,660 4,436 4,534
Exploration Sys. Devt.
3,115
2,784
100
3,055
3,002
3,375
3,485
3,393
3,474
- Orion MPCV
1,197
1,053
— 1,140 1,200 1,225 1,250 1,235 1,260
- Space Launch System
1,600
1,380
— 1,600 1,484 1,725 1,800 1,750 1,800
- Explo. Ground Systems
318
351
— 315 318 425 435 408 414
Commercial Spaceflight
696
848
250
785
700
815
825
700
700
Exploration R&D
302
343
0
327
305
332
350
343
360
Space Operations
3,778
3,905
101 3,878a 3,818 3,948 4,010 4,042 4,133
Internatl. Space Station
—b 3,051 101 3,040 2,984 3,103 3,196 3,197 3,320
Space and Flight Support
—b 855 0 845 834 845 814 845 814
Education
117 89 10 106 125 140 142 136 136
Space Grant
40
24
0
30
—
—
—
—
—
EPSCoR
18 9 0 9 — — — — —
MUREP
30 30 0 32 — — — — —
Other
29 26
10 35 — — — — —
Cross-Agency Suppt.c 2,793 2,779 0 2,779 2,600 2,907 2,965 2,850 2,937
Construction
&
EC&R 515 446 94 446 587 441 441 441 471
Inspector
General
38 37 0 34 35 39 39 37 37
Total
17,647 17,461 886 17,896 16,865 18,462 18,831 18,462 18,868
Sources: FY2014 enacted from P.L. 113-76 and pp. H515-H517 of the joint explanatory statement, Congressional Record, January
15, 2014. FY2015 request and OGSI from NASA FY2015 congressional budget justification. FY2015 House from H.R. 4660 as
passed by the House and H.Rept. 113-448. Authorizations from H.R. 2687 as ordered reported, S. 1317 as ordered reported, and
H.R. 2616 as introduced.
Notes: Some totals may not add because of rounding. OGSI = Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative. MPCV = Multipurpose
Crew Vehicle. R&D = Research and Development. EPSCoR = Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. MUREP =
Minority University Research Education Program. EC&R = Environmental Compliance and Remediation.
a. A floor amendment reduced the amount for Space Operations without specifying how the reduction should be al ocated. As a
result, the amounts for I and Space and Flight Support do not add to the amount for Space Operations.
b. Not specified in P.L. 113-76 or the joint explanatory statement. As of March 20, 2014, NASA’s operating plan for FY2014
included $2,964 million for International Space Station and $812 million for Space and Flight Support, with the remaining $2
mil ion transferred to other accounts.
c. Cross-Agency Support is called Safety, Security, and Mission Services in H.R. 4660.
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NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet
Figure 1. NASA Funding, FY1958-FY2014
Source: 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-FY2013 from
NASA congressional budget justifications, FY2011-FY2015. FY2014 from P.L. 113-76. Current dol ars deflated to
FY2014 dol ars using GDP (chained) price index from President’s budget for FY2015, Historical Table 10.1,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals.
Note: Transition quarter between FY1976 and FY1977 not shown.
Author Contact Information
Daniel Morgan
Specialist in Science and Technology Policy
dmorgan@crs.loc.gov, 7-5849
Congressional Research Service
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