NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet

March 11, 2016 (R43419)

In the current fiscal environment, 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 FY2017 NASA appropriations as well as proposed authorizations of NASA appropriations for FY2017.

For more information on the FY2017 budget request for NASA, see CRS Report R44397, NASA: FY2017 Budget and Appropriations. NASA issues of congressional interest are discussed further in CRS Report R43144, NASA: Issues for Authorization, Appropriations, and Oversight in the 114th Congress. Additional information on appropriations legislation affecting NASA is provided in CRS Report R44409, Overview of FY2017 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), and similar reports for other years.¹

Table 1 shows appropriations for NASA from FY2011 through FY2016. The data for FY2011 through FY2015 include supplemental appropriations, rescissions, transfers, reprogramming, and, in the case of FY2013, sequestration. They are taken from NASA's congressional budget justifications for FY2013 through FY2017. 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 FY2016 are as enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113). For amounts not specified in that act, see pp. H9741-H9743 of the explanatory statement, published in the Congressional Record on December 17, 2015.

Table 2 shows enacted appropriations for FY2016 (as above); the Administration's request for FY2017 (including requested one-time mandatory funding); and proposed authorizations of appropriations for FY2017 in the NASA Authorization Act for 2016 and 2017 (H.R. 2039) as ordered reported by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 30, 2015. Note that H.R. 2039 contains two sets of numbers for FY2017. In materials released by the committee, the numbers in Section 102 are described as "aspirational," while the numbers in Section 103 are described as "constrained."²

Figure 1 shows NASA's total annual budget authority from the agency's establishment in FY1958 to FY2016, in both current dollars and inflation-adjusted FY2016 dollars.

Table 1. NASA Appropriations, FY2011-FY2016

(budget authority in $ millions)

	FY2011	FY2012	FY2013	FY2014	FY2015	FY2016
Science	$4,920	$5,074	$4,782	$5,148	$5,243	$5,589
Earth Science	1,722	1,761	1,659	1,825	1,784	1,921
Planetary Science	1,451	1,501	1,275	1,346	1,447	1,631
Astrophysics	631	648	617	678	731	731
James Webb Space Telescope	477	519	628	658	645	620
Heliophysics	639	645	603	641	636	650
Education	—^a	—^a	—^a	—^a	—^a	37
Aeronautics	534	569	530	566	642	640
Space Technology	456	574	615	576	600	687
Exploration	3,821	3,707	3,706	4,113	3,543	4,030
Exploration Systems Development	2,982	3,002	2,884	3,115	3,212	3,680
- Orion MPCV	1,196	1,200	1,114	1,197	1,190	1,270
- Space Launch System	1,536	1,497	1,415	1,600	1,679	2,000
- Exploration Ground Systems	250	305	355	318	343	410
Commercial Spaceflight	607	406	525	696	—^b	—^b
Exploration R&D	232	300	297	302	331	350
Space Operations	5,146	4,184	3,725	3,774	4,626	5,029
Space Shuttle	1,593	596	39	0	8	—^c
International Space Station	2,714	2,790	2,776	2,964	1,525	—^c
Space Transportation	—^d	—^d	—^d	—^d	2,254	—^c
Space and Flight Support	840	798	910	810	839	—^c
Education	145	136	116	117	119	115
Space Grant	46	39	37	40	40	40
EPSCoR	25	17	17	18	18	18
MUREP	29	30	28	30	32	32
Other	47	50	34	29	29	25
Safety, Security, and Mission Services^e	2,956	2,994	2,711	2,793	2,755	2,769
Construction and EC&R	433	495	661^f	522	446	389
Inspector General	36	38	35	38	37	37
Total	18,448	17,770^g	16,879^f	17,647	18,010	19,285

Sources: FY2011-FY2015 from NASA FY2013-FY2017 congressional budget justifications. FY2016 from P.L. 114-113 and pp. H9741-H9743 of the explanatory statement, Congressional Record, December 17, 2015.

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. Included in Astrophysics.

b. Included in Space Transportation under Space Operations.

c. Not specified. Amount for Space Transportation includes up to $1,244 million for Commercial Crew.

d. Included in International Space Station.

e. Formerly Cross-Agency Support.

f. 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.

g. Includes rescission of $1 million from prior-year accounts not shown in the table.

Table 2. NASA Appropriations, FY2016-FY2017, and Authorizations, FY2017

(budget authority in $ millions)

	Appropriations			Authorizations
	FY2016	FY2017		FY2017
	Enacted	Request (Total)	Request (Mandatory)	H.R. 2039 (Sec. 102)	H.R. 2039 (Sec. 103)
Science	$5,589	$5,601	$298	$4,935	$4,679
Earth Science	1,921	2,032	60	1,450	1,199
Planetary Science	1,631	1,519	128	1,500	1,500
Astrophysics	731	782	85	731	709
James Webb Space Telescope	620	569	—	569	620
Heliophysics	650	699	25	685	651
Education	37	—^a	—	—	—
Aeronautics	640	790	156	580	571
Space Technology	687	827	136	596	500
Exploration	4,030	3,337	173	5,268	4,845
Exploration Systems Development	3,680	2,860	173	3,682	3,310
- Orion MPCV	1,270	1,120	66	1,350	1,200
- Space Launch System	2,000	1,310	80	1,900	1,700
- Exploration Ground Systems	410	429	26	432	410
Commercial Spaceflight	—^b	—^b	—	1,185	1,136
Exploration R&D	350	477	—	402	399
Space Operations	5,029	5,076	—	3,993	3,950
Space Shuttle	—^c	0	—	—^d	—^d
International Space Station	—^c	1,431	—	—^d	—^d
Space Transportation	—^c	2,758	—	—^d	—^d
Space and Flight Support	—^c	887	—	—^d	—^d
Education	115	100	—	119	119
Space Grant	40	24	—	—^d	—^d
EPSCoR	18	9	—	—^d	—^d
MUREP	32	30	—	—^d	—^d
Other	25	37	—	—^d	—^d
Safety, Security, & Mission Services	2,769	2,837	—	2,843	2,843
Construction & EC&R	389	420	—	436	465
Inspector General	37	38	—	37	37
Total	19,285	19,025	763	18,807	18,010

Sources: FY2016 enacted from P.L. 114-113 and pp. H9741-H9743 of the explanatory statement, Congressional Record, December 17, 2015. FY2017 request from NASA FY2017 congressional budget justification. Authorizations from H.R. 2039 as ordered reported.

a. Included in Astrophysics.

b. Included in Space Transportation under Space Operations.

c. Not specified. Amount for Space Transportation includes up to $1,244 million for Commercial Crew.

d. Not specified.

Figure 1. NASA Funding, FY1958-FY2016

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-FY2014 from NASA congressional budget justifications, FY2011-FY2016. FY2015 from P.L. 113-235. FY2016 from P.L. 114-113. Current dollars deflated to FY2016 dollars using GDP (chained) price index from President's budget for FY2017, Historical Table 10.1, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals.

Note: Transition quarter between FY1976 and FY1977 not shown.

Author Contact Information

[author name scrubbed], Specialist in Science and Technology Policy ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])

Footnotes

See, for example, 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; CRS Report R41721, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2012 Appropriations; and CRS Report R41161, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: FY2011 Appropriations.

See, for example, "Highlights of H.R. ____, the NASA Authorization for 2016 and 2017," http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/Bills_Amendments/HIGHLIGHTS%20for%20NASA%20Authorization%20for%202016%20and%202017.pdf.