spacetoday.net: Congressional compromise provides $17.8 billion for NASA

Posted: Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 6:13 AM ET (1113 GMT)
NASA

A House-Senate conference committee has finalized a 2012 spending bill that includes $17.8 billion for NASA, funding a space telescope but cutting money for space technology and commercial crew programs. The "minibus" appropriations bill, which combines three separate spending bills, includes full funding for the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and Orion MPCV capsule. The budget also provides $530 million for the James Webb Space Telescope, although a provision in the bill sets a cost cap of $8 billion for the program, which has suffered cost overruns and schedule delays. NASA's commercial crew effort would get $406 million, less than half the $850 million requested by the agency, and the space technology program would get $575 million, a little over half the requested amount. The overall bill is expected to pass the House and Senate this week before a stopgap funding bill expires on Friday.