spacetoday.net: White House proposes $18.7 billion budget for NASA in 2010

Posted: Fri, Feb 27, 2009, 7:37 AM ET (1237 GMT)
NASA

The Obama Administration released the outlines of its proposed fiscal year 2010 budget on Thursday, offering $18.7 billion for NASA while continuing plans to retire the shuttle in 2010 and return humans to the Moon by 2020. Few additional details about how the money would be apportioned were released in the budget document; the complete budget proposal is scheduled for release by April. However, the two-page summary of the agency's budget confirmed earlier plans to retire the shuttle by the end of 2010, with the possibility of an additional shuttle flight if it can be carried out before that retirement date. The document also kept the goal of developing launch vehicles and spacecraft capable of returning humans to the Moon by 2020, but did not specifically mention the Ares launch vehicles or Orion crew exploration vehicle by name. Also included in the proposal were plans for enhanced Earth sciences and aeronautics research. The $18.7 billion would be nearly a billion more than the $17.8 billion NASA would get for the current fiscal year in an omnibus appropriations bill currently under consideration by Congress. NASA also received an additional $1 billion in the stimulus bill signed into law earlier this month.