NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet

April 16, 2018 (R43419)

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 NASA appropriations. No bills have yet been introduced in the 115th Congress proposing future-year authorizations of NASA appropriations.

Additional information on appropriations legislation affecting NASA is provided in CRS Report R44877, Overview of FY2018 Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) and similar reports for prior years.1 NASA issues of congressional interest are discussed further in CRS Report R43144, NASA: Issues for Authorization, Appropriations, and Oversight in the 114th Congress.

Table 1 shows appropriations for NASA from FY2013 through FY2018. The data for FY2013 through FY2016 include supplemental appropriations, rescissions, transfers, reprogramming, and, in the case of FY2013, sequestration. They are taken from NASA's congressional budget justifications for FY2014 through FY2018.2 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 FY2017 are as enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31). For amounts not specified in that act, see pages H3374-H3375 of the explanatory statement, published in the Congressional Record on May 3, 2017. The table data for FY2018 are as enacted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141). For amounts not specified in that act, see pages H2094-H2096 of the explanatory statement, published in the Congressional Record on March 22, 2018.

The Trump Administration's budget request for FY2019 adopted a new account structure for NASA. It presented FY2017 amounts adjusted for comparability with the new structure, but not FY2018 amounts, because final FY2018 appropriations had not yet been enacted at the time the FY2019 budget was released. Table 2 shows FY2017 appropriations, adjusted for comparability, and the Administration's request for FY2019. Additional columns will be added to this table as Congress acts on FY2019 authorization and appropriations legislation for NASA.

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.

Table 1. NASA Appropriations, FY2013-FY2018

(budget authority in $ millions)

 

FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

FY2017

FY2018

Science

$4,782

$5,148

$5,243

$5,584

$5,765

$6,222

Earth Science

1,659

1,825

1,784

1,927

1,921

1,921

Planetary Science

1,275

1,346

1,447

1,628

1,846

2,228

Astrophysics

617

678

731

762

750

850

James Webb Space Telescope

628

658

645

620

569

534

Heliophysics

603

641

636

647

679

689

Aeronautics

530

566

642

634

660

685

Space Technology

615

576

600

686

687

760

Exploration

3,706

4,113

3,543

3,996

4,324

4,790

Exploration Systems Development

2,884

3,115

3,212

3,641

3,929

4,395

Orion

1,114

1,197

1,190

1,270

1,350

1,350

Space Launch System

1,415

1,600

1,679

1,972

2,150

2,150

Exploration Ground Systems

355

318

343

399

429

895

Commercial Spaceflight

525

696

a

a

a

a

Exploration R&D

297

302

331

355

395

395

Space Operations

3,725

3,774

4,626

5,032

4,951

4,752

Space Shuttle

39

0

8

5

0

0

International Space Station

2,776

2,964

1,525

1,436

n/s

n/s

Space Transportation

b

b

2,254

2,668

n/sc

n/s

Space and Flight Support

910

810

839

923

n/s

n/s

Education

116

117

119

115

100

100

Space Grant

37

40

40

40

40

40

EPSCoR

17

18

18

18

18

18

MUREP

28

30

32

32

32

32

Other

34

29

29

25

10

10

Safety, Security, and Mission Services

2,711

2,793

2,755

2,772

2,769

2,827

Construction and EC&R

661d

522

446

427

470e

562

Inspector General

35

38

37

37

38

39

Total

16,879d

17,647

18,010

19,285

19,762e

20,736

Sources: FY2013-FY2016 from NASA FY2015-FY2018 congressional budget justifications. FY2017 from P.L. 115-31 and explanatory statement, Congressional Record, May 3, 2017, pp. H3374-H3375. FY2018 from P.L. 115-141 and explanatory statement, Congressional Record, March 22, 2018, pp. H2094-H2096. See text for details.

Notes: Some totals may not add because of rounding. R&D = Research and Development. EPSCoR = Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. MUREP = Minority University Research and Education Program. EC&R = Environmental Compliance and Remediation. n/s = not specified.

a. Included in Space Transportation under Space Operations.

b. Commercial Crew funded under Exploration. Remainder of Space Transportation included in International Space Station.

c. Includes up to $1,185 million for Commercial Crew.

d. 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.

e. Includes $109 million in emergency funding (from Sec. 540 of P.L. 115-31) for repairs at NASA facilities damaged by natural disasters.

Table 2. NASA Appropriations, FY2019

(budget authority in $ millions)

 

FY2017
Comparable

FY2019

 

 

Request

House

Senate

Enacted

Science

$5,762

$5,895

 

 

 

Earth Science

1,908

1,784

 

 

 

Planetary Science

1,828

2,235

 

 

 

Astrophysicsa

1,352

1,185

 

 

 

Heliophysics

675

691

 

 

 

Aeronautics

656

634

 

 

 

Exploration Research and Technologyb

827

1,003

 

 

 

Deep Space Exploration Systemsc

4,184

4,559

 

 

 

Exploration Systems Development

3,929

3,670

 

 

 

Orion

1,330

1,164

 

 

 

Space Launch System

2,127

2,078

 

 

 

Exploration Ground Systems

472

428

 

 

 

Advanced Exploration Systems

98

889

 

 

 

Exploration R&D

157

 

 

 

LEO and Spaceflight Operations

4,943

4,625

 

 

 

International Space Station

1,451

1,462

 

 

 

Space Transportation

2,589

2,109

 

 

 

Space and Flight Support

903

904

 

 

 

Commercial LEO Development

150

 

 

 

Education

100

0

 

 

 

Space Grant

40

0

 

 

 

EPSCoR

18

0

 

 

 

MUREP

32

0

 

 

 

Other

10

0

 

 

 

Safety, Security, and Mission Services

2,769

2,750

 

 

 

Construction and EC&R

485d

388

 

 

 

Inspector General

38

39

 

 

 

Total

19,762d

19,892

 

 

 

Sources: FY2019 NASA congressional budget justification and P.L. 115-31. See text for details.

Notes: Some totals may not add because of rounding. For account structure changes, see table notes and discussion in text. R&D = Research and Development. LEO = Low Earth Orbit. EPSCoR = Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. MUREP = Minority University Research and Education Program. EC&R = Environmental Compliance and Remediation. n/s = not specified.

a. Includes the James Webb Space Telescope, formerly a separate item.

b. Formerly Space Technology, plus elements formerly in Exploration.

c. Formerly Exploration, minus elements now in Exploration Research and Technology.

d. Includes $109 million in emergency funding (from Sec. 540 of P.L. 115-31, not shown in the FY2019 NASA congressional budget justification) for repairs at NASA facilities damaged by natural disasters.

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.

Author Contact Information

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

Footnotes

1.

See, for example, 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.

FY2016 Education amounts are not shown in the FY2018 congressional budget justification 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.