Space Foundation Update Report for Fiscal Year 2015 Federal Budget

By Jillianne Pierce, Space Foundation Government Affairs Associate

On Dec. 16, President Obama signed the $1.014 trillion Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 omnibus spending bill into law. The omnibus funds the entire Federal government including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Defense (DoD).

The bill appropriates $18 billion to fund NASA programs in FY 2015, an increase of $364 million from NASA’s FY 2014 budget. A few highlights from NASA’s budget include:

• Planetary Science was appropriated $157.5 million above the President’s FY 2015 base budget request. In addition, Congress provides that at least $100 million will continue work on a Jupiter Europa mission and the same amount will further preparations for a Mars 2020 Rover.
• The Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle was appropriated $1.7 billion in FY 2015, $319.7 million above the President’s FY 2015 request for SLS.
• Orion capsule was appropriated $1.194 billion in FY 2015, $141.2 million above the President’s FY 2015 request for Orion.
• Commercial Crew was appropriated $805 million in FY 2015, $43 million below the President’s FY 2015 request, but $109 million above its FY 2014 budget.
• Education was appropriated $119 million in FY 2015, $30.1 million above the President’s request.

NOAA was appropriated $2.03 billion for its satellite acquisition in FY 2015, $22.7 million below the President’s request. A few highlights from NOAA’s budget include:

• Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) weather satellite program was appropriated President Obama’s full FY 2015 request of $980.8 million.
• Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) was appropriated the President’s full FY 2015 request of $916.2 million.

The DoD was appropriated $490.2 billion in base funding for FY 2015, $3.3 billion above the FY 2014 funding level. A few highlights from DoD’s budget include:

• Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program was appropriated $1.647 billion in FY 2015, $266.7 million above the President’s FY 15 request.
• Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office was appropriated $20 million for FY 2015, $20 million above the President’s budget request.
• The FY 2015 omnibus appropriates an unrequested $226 million for the development of a next-generation rocket propulsion to “transition from the use of non-allied space launch engines to a domestic alternative for national security space launches.”

To read the Space Foundation’s full budget analysis for NASA, NOAA and DoD, please click here.

This article is part of Space Watch: February 2015 (Volume: 14, Issue: 2).