White House to cut NASA budget

The White House proposed slashing NASA’s budget by nearly a quarter in fiscal year 2026, reducing funding from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion, according to a government memo released with the budget proposal cited by TASS.

The 24 per cent cut would impact nearly all of NASA’s operations, including a $508 million reduction in funding for the International Space Station.

Several science programmes not tied to crewed spaceflight — such as the mission to return Martian rock samples — are also set to lose funding.

Despite the cuts, Trump’s administration plans to increase spending on human spaceflight by $647 million, citing ambitions to return Americans to the Moon ahead of China and eventually send crewed missions to Mars.

Attribution: TASS
Subediting: M. S. Salama