spacetoday.net: NASA receives $18 billion in 2015 spending bill

Posted: Tue, Dec 16, 2014, 7:47 AM ET (1247 GMT)
NASA

An omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2015 passed by Congress will provide NASA with $18 billion, more than $500 million above the agency's original request. The bill increases funding for the agency's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket programs. The bill also adds funding for NASA's planetary science programs, setting aside $100 million for a proposed robotic mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. The bill funds NASA's commercial crew program at $805 million, about $40 million below the request, and also cuts the agency's space technology program by more than $100 million. The funding was included in a spending bill that funds most of the federal government through the rest of the fiscal year. The Senate passed the bill Saturday night, two days after the House approved the same bill.