The White House’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal for NASA represents a historic threat to the space agency.
It slashes NASA’s workforce to its smallest size since 1960 NASA’s civil servant workforce has varied in size over the years, peaking during the Apollo program.
It slashes funding for nearly every NASA program area NASA is not a monolith.
It imposes severe cuts on every NASA science division NASA has four mission-focused science divisions: planetary science, Earth science, heliophysics, and astrophysics.
Use our Save NASA Science action hub to find more details, actions, and opportunities to help.
NASA faces a historic threat from the White House’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026. We have the evidence to support that, so it’s not hyperbole.
This is the lowest NASA budget proposal since 1961.
No American had yet made a space flight at the beginning of fiscal year 1961. Also, no Soviet cosmonaut had ever flown. Not even the first chimpanzee in space, Ham, had taken off. Project Mercury was just getting started and would eventually send seven astronauts on solo space missions in small capsules. There were no space telescopes, planetary spacecraft, or Earth science missions. There was no Apollo lunar program. In 1961, NASA was like this. This brings us to the NASA budget proposal for 2026.
It is the biggest percentage cut to NASA that has ever been suggested.
The proposed budget would reduce NASA by almost 25% in a single year, which is a greater proportional cut than any other year since the conclusion of Apollo, when the U.S. A. was completing its Moon program. However, this time, NASA is being entrusted with both sending humans to Mars and returning them to the Moon, a much more ambitious goal that will undoubtedly be hampered by this lack of funding.
As a result, NASA has the smallest workforce since 1960.
The number of civil servants at NASA has fluctuated over time, reaching a peak during the Apollo program. The Clinton administration cut employees by 25% over five years in the 1990s, which some say prepared the way for the shuttle Columbia accident. Through involuntary layoffs, this budget would reduce NASA’s workforce by almost one-third in a single year, making it the agency with the smallest workforce since fiscal year 1960, before the establishment of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, and Stennis Space Center.
It cuts money for almost all of NASA’s programs.
NASA is not a single entity. It is made up of several mission areas and directorates that concentrate their efforts on education, science, human exploration, the space station, and aviation. The White House budget for NASA for 2026 calls for drastic cuts to all program activities, including the complete elimination of STEM education and outreach, with the exception of human exploration.
NASA’s science program is completely destroyed.
Operating a fleet of space-based observatories, planetary probes, and Earth-monitoring satellites, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is the agency’s principal arm for scientific research and discovery. These satellites investigate everything from our home planet to the far-off Universe. These include planetary defense initiatives like NEO Surveyor, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Mars Perseverance rover. The main source of funding for basic scientific and technological research is NASA science. It is a distinct activity with unparalleled capabilities that the private sector does not pursue. The White House suggests slashing it by almost half.
It severely reduces all of NASA’s scientific departments.
Astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics, and planetary science are the four mission-focused science divisions within NASA. Every division would be cut in this plan, which would result in the early termination of ongoing missions, significant reductions in basic scientific research, and the cancellation of dozens of ongoing design and construction projects. Numerous exciting missions, such as those to Venus, next-generation space telescopes, Earth observation satellites, and initiatives aimed at better understanding the Sun, would be impacted by this.
By ending 19 ongoing science missions, it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars.
NASA hardly ever cancels a successful science mission because it isn’t profitable. Even with a multibillion dollar budget, the annual cost of operations is minimal (millions of dollars), and many missions are special in the data they can gather or the location they are in. After 20 years of space travel, New Horizons is now exploring the far-off Kuiper Belt. It would take a generation to restore this lost capability if it were to be cancelled, as suggested.
There is still time to reject this proposal.
In the end, Congress is in charge of US spending. Despite being a grave danger, this proposal is not doom. in the United States. S. You have time to urge your representatives in Congress to oppose this terrible plan. To learn more, take action, and find ways to support NASA Science, visit our action hub.
