spacetoday.net: House appropriators approve $25 billion for NASA in spending bill

Posted: Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 7:17 PM ET (2317 GMT)
US Capitol

House appropriators passed a NASA spending bill Thursday after tweaking language regarding lunar landers and nuclear propulsion. The House Appropriations Committee passed a $81.3 billion spending bill that includes $25.04 billion for NASA. The full committee made no changes to overall funding levels for NASA during its debate on the bill, but did adjust language regarding the $1.345 billion for the Human Landing System to urge NASA "to bolster competition in lander development" rather than direct the agency to pick a second company, as one amendment proposed. The committee passed an amendment inserting language on a flight demonstration for nuclear thermal propulsion technology, similar to language in past years' bills. The bill also restores funding for NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory, which the agency proposed terminating in its budget request.