Posted: Mon, Oct 14, 2002, 7:48 AM ET (1148 GMT)
The full House Appropriations Committee approved a $15.3 billion budget for NASA in 2003 last week. The full committee passed a budget Wednesday that had been approved earlier in the week by the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies subcommittee. The budget provides $300 million more for the agency than what President Bush proposed in his original 2003 budget. Included in the increase is $105 million for the Pluto/Kuiper Express mission, matching the increase added to the Senate's version of the budget. The House version also includes $40 million for studies of a future Europa orbiter mission, an increase not included in the Senate's version of the budget. The full budget has yet to be considered by the full House; likewise, the full Senate has yet to vote on the $15.2 billion NASA budget approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in July. Once the two houses pass their respective budget bills a conference committee will meet to iron out the differences between the two.
