{"id":11648,"date":"2021-05-28T22:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T14:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-administrator-unveils-24-8-billion-2022-budget-request\/"},"modified":"2021-05-28T22:02:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T14:02:53","slug":"nasa-administrator-unveils-24-8-billion-2022-budget-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-administrator-unveils-24-8-billion-2022-budget-request\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA administrator unveils $24.8 billion 2022 budget request"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

\"\"
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during a Senate confirmation hearing April 21. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Biden administration\u2019s $24.8 billion fiscal 2022 budget request for NASA will keep the agency on track to send the the first woman and the next man to the moon as early as 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Friday, but he warned that target date is far from certain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpace is hard,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you see the development of various space systems in the past, there have been delays. When you go farther and farther away from the Earth with new technologies, we have seen historically, delays. Will they occur? I can\u2019t answer that question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the goal is 2024. But I think we have to be brutally realistic, that history would tell us, because space development is so hard, that there could be delays to that schedule for the first demonstration flight of landing humans and returning them safely to Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $24.8 billion budget request represents a 6.6 percent boost over 2021 and includes $6.88 billion for the Artemis moon program and $4 billion for space operations, which covers the International Space Station and commercial crew and cargo missions to the lab complex.<\/p>\n

The largest single category in the budget is science operations totaling $7.93 billion. That includes $3.2 billion for planetary exploration, with initial funding for a Mars sample return mission, and $2.25 billion for a new multi-satellite Earth science initiative to learn more about climate change and its effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president\u2019s budget request is recognition that NASA\u2019s missions contribute to the administration\u2019s larger goals for America: climate change, promoting equity, driving economic growth, STEM research and development, all of which equal jobs,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cIt\u2019s the largest budget request for NASA science, ever. The Biden administration is proving that science is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $6.88 billion for deep space exploration includes $4.48 billion to cover continued development of the Space Launch System \u2014 SLS \u2014 super heavy lift rocket and a planned upgrade, the Orion crew capsule that will carry astronauts to the moon and the required ground systems.<\/p>\n

Another $2.39 billion is earmarked for ongoing development of the planned Gateway lunar space station, which will serve as a research lab and staging base, and a new lunar lander \u2014 the Human Landing System, or HLS \u2014 to carry astronauts down to the surface and back up to lunar orbit.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the Space Launch System launching with NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA currently is gearing up to launch the first SLS rocket late this year, boosting an unpiloted Orion capsule on a flight beyond the moon and back. If that mission goes well, the second SLS and another Orion would carry out a similar around-the-moon flight in the 2023 timeframe before a possible piloted landing by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

The 2024 target was set by the Trump administration and while it has never appeared to be a realistic goal given the amount of work required and budget expectations, NASA has stuck with the target, saying it remains achievable if development goes smoothly.<\/p>\n

The proposed 2022 budget for deep space exploration includes $1.2 billion for initial funding of a SpaceX contract valued at $2.89 billion to develop a lunar lander. The so-called \u201cOption A\u201d HLS contract award in April calls for two demonstration missions, an unpiloted test flight and one with astronauts on board.<\/p>\n

But two competitors \u2014 Blue Origin and Dynetics \u2014 protested the SpaceX award and the contract currently is on hold pending a review.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Artist\u2019s concept of a Starship on the moon. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Against that backdrop, an amendment to a Senate bill currently under consideration would force NASA to fund development of at least one additional lander and would authorize $10 billion for the HLS program over four years compared to the $7 billion or so Nelson said the Biden administration envisions over the same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been in no uncertain terms expressed to me by members of both the House and the Senate that they want a competition for the remaining lander contracts that will occur over the course of the decade following the first demonstration flight,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p>\n

However it plays out, Nelson said NASA\u2019s proposed 2022 budget gives the agency \u201cthe resources to advance America\u2019s bipartisan moon-to-Mars space exploration plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps us on a path for a regular cadence of Artemis missions to the moon,\u201d he said. \u201cUnder the Artemis program, America will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. And this commitment is not just a statement, it is an action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during a Senate confirmation hearing April 21. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls The Biden administration\u2019s $24.8 billion fiscal 2022 budget request for NASA will keep the agency on track to send the the first woman and the next man to the moon as early as 2024, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}