NASA's disastrous 2026 budget proposal in seven charts

The White House's fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal for NASA represents a historic threat to the space agency. That's not hyperbole: we have the data to prove it.

It's the smallest budget proposed for NASA since 1961

At the start of fiscal year 1961, no American astronaut had yet flown in space. No Soviet cosmonaut had flown, either. Not even Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, had launched. Project Mercury, which would eventually send seven astronauts in modest capsules on solo trips into space, was just getting started. No planetary spacecraft, space telescopes, or Earth science missions existed. The Apollo lunar program was nonexistent. Such was the NASA of 1961. And so now is the budget proposed for the NASA of 2026:

It's the largest percentage cut ever proposed for NASA

The budget proposes to cut NASA by nearly 25% in one year — that's a larger proportional cut than in any year after the end of Apollo, when the U.S. was winding down its Moon program. This time, however, NASA is being tasked with returning humans to the Moon AND sending humans to Mars, a far more ambitious agenda that is certain to be undermined by this lack of investment.

It slashes NASA's workforce to its smallest size since 1960

NASA's civil servant workforce has varied in size over the years, peaking during the Apollo program. During the 1990s, the Clinton administration reduced the workforce by 25% over five years, a process that some claim laid the groundwork for the shuttle Columbia disaster. This budget proposes to slash NASA's workforce by nearly 1/3 in a single year via involuntary layoffs, resulting in the agency's smallest workforce since fiscal year 1960, before NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, and Stennis Space Center even existed.

It slashes funding for nearly every NASA program area

NASA is not a monolith. It is composed of different directorates and mission areas that focus their activities on science, human exploration, the space station, aeronautics, and education. With the sole exception of human exploration, the 2026 White House budget for NASA proposes draconian cuts to every program activity, even eliminating STEM education and outreach entirely.

It eviscerates NASA's science program

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is the agency’s primary arm for scientific discovery and research, operating a fleet of space-based observatories, planetary probes, and Earth-monitoring satellites that explore everything from our home planet to the distant Universe. These include the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Perseverance rover, and planetary defense projects like NEO Surveyor. NASA science is the primary source of funding for fundamental scientific and technology research. It is a unique activity, something not pursued by the private sector, with unmatched capabilities. The White House proposes to cut it by nearly half.

It imposes severe cuts on every NASA science division

NASA has four mission-focused science divisions: planetary science, Earth science, heliophysics, and astrophysics. This proposal would slash each division, forcing premature terminations of active missions, massive cuts to fundamental scientific research, and the end of dozens of projects currently being designed and built. This would impact any number of exciting missions, including missions to Venus, next-generation space telescopes, Earth observation satellites, and projects intended to understand the Sun.

It terminates 19 active science missions, wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer investment

Rarely does NASA end a productive science mission — it just makes no financial sense. The cost of ongoing operations is negligible (millions of dollars a year out of a multibillion-dollar budget), and many missions are unique in the data they can collect or the location they are in. New Horizons, currently exploring the distant Kuiper Belt, has traveled in space for 20 years to reach its current location. If it is cancelled (as proposed), it would take a generation to restore this lost capability.

This proposal can still be rejected

Ultimately, Congress controls spending in the United States. This proposal, while a serious threat, is not destiny. If you live in the U.S., there is still time to engage your congressional representatives to reject this disastrous proposal. Use our Save NASA Science action hub to find more details, actions, and opportunities to help.