SENATE APPROPRIATIONS CJS SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING ON NASA’S FY2024 BUDGET REQUEST, April 2023

The Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the FY2024 budget request for NASA on April 18, 2023. The hearing also addressed the request for the National Science Foundation.  NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan were the witnesses.

Nelson was queried in particular on how growing funding requirements for the Mars Sample Return mission are affecting other science programs. Nelson revealed that he learned just two weeks earlier than MSR needs another $250 million in the current fiscal year, FY2023, and another $250 million above the FY2024 request, to stay on track for launch in 2028. He acknowledged the funding challenges, but reminded the Senators it is only a request and Congress could add more money. Nelson was a Senator for 18 years and a member of the House of Representatives before that so is well familiar with the saying that the President proposes and Congress disposes on matters of how to spend taxpayer money.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the hearing on April 13, 2023: Mars Sample Return in Financial Bind Already.