Posted: Mon, Feb 6, 2006, 1:32 PM ET (1832 GMT)
The Bush Administration's fiscal year 2007 budget proposal, released Monday morning, would give NASA approximately a one-percent budget increase over its current budget, with exploration efforts getting a bigger boost. The budget proposes giving NASA just under $16.8 billion in 2007, compared to the $16.6 billion the agency received in 2006, counting supplemental spending to pay for hurricane damage. Exploration systems was the bigger winner, with its budget increasing nearly 30 percent to just under $4 billion in 2007. Science programs received a one-percent increase, while "space operations", which includes the shuttle and ISS, will get a five-percent cut in the budget to $6.2 billion. Aeronautics took the biggest percentage cut, down 22 percent to $724 million in 2007. NASA plans to release more details about specific programs later Monday. Congress will now take up the budget proposal, but traditionally does not complete work on the budget until the fall.
