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  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

FY2026 Crisis NASA overall science budget chart with proposed cut

This chart highlights the biggest proposed science cut in NASA history. The proposed 47% reduction would result in the smallest science budget since 1984, when adjusted for inflation.

In 1984 NASA had a far less ambitious program of scientific exploration. Earth science was not yet a discipline, planetary science was nearly non-existent, and only a handful of missions were in development.

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