They criticize his decision
President Donald Trump’s administration has unveiled a 2026 NASA budget proposal that would cut funding by a quarter — about $6 billion, to $18.8 billion. The plan would support commercial space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and prioritize missions to Mars, but sacrifice key science programs and infrastructure, The Verge reports.
The budget cuts $508 million from the International Space Station (ISS), reducing crew and research to focus on the Moon and Mars programs. Science is losing $2.265 billion, including the cancellation of the Mars Sample Return mission, which was supposed to bring back samples from Mars. It also proposes to phase out the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after the Artemis III mission in 2027, calling them “prohibitively expensive” with a launch price of $4 billion.
