spacetoday.net: Budget deal would give NASA nearly $18.5 billion in 2010

Posted: Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 9:52 PM ET (0152 GMT)
US Capitol

Details of a budget deal reached last week show that NASA would get just under $18.5 billion in fiscal year 2011, nearly a quarter-billion less than it received in 2010. House and Senate appropriators released early Tuesday the text of legislation that would fund the federal government for the rest of 2010. Under that bill NASA would get $18.485 billion, down from the $18.724 billion it got in 2010 and the $19.0 billion requested for 2011. The bill gives NASA some flexibility to allocate funds among various programs, but does require NASA to spent $1.2 billion on the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle capsule and $1.8 billion on the Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle. The bill also removes language from the 2010 appropriations act that prevented NASA from canceling Constellation contracts. Congress is expected to take up the bill this week. NASA and the rest of the federal government have been operating under stopgap funding bills since the fiscal year started last October.