Posted: Wed, Jul 24, 2002, 8:46 AM ET (1246 GMT)
A Senate appropriations subcommittee added $200 million to NASA's proposed 2003 budget on Tuesday, including funding for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee that deals with NASA and other independent agencies, as well as the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, made the changes to NASA's proposed budget during the hearing Tuesday. The subcommittee added $105 million for the New Horizons mission, which, combined with $15 million in the budget for NASA's New Frontiers spacecraft program, is enough to keep the program operating through 2003. The subcommittee also urged NASA set priorities for shuttle upgrades and improvements to facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the subcommittee, said she would have liked to add up to $1 billion more to the agency's budget, but pressures on other portions of the federal budget kept her committee from doing so. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to approve the $15.2-billion budget during a Thursday hearing, but the House of Representatives is not expected to act until after the August recess.

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