The Planetary Society Releases Official Statement on NASA's Supplemental Budget Request

Pasadena, CA (May 17, 2019) — The Planetary Society, the world’s largest independent space interest organization, issued the following statement regarding NASA’s FY 2020 supplemental budget request:

“The supplemental budget request accelerates the return of astronauts to the lunar surface and advances the effort of sending humans to Mars—a goal shared by The Planetary Society. However, the proposed $1.6 billion one-year increase to NASA’s budget, while a welcome boost, represents by itself an insufficient political and financial commitment. We urge the administration to provide the significant additional funds required to support a fast-paced program of lunar exploration over the next 5 years.

We wish to acknowledge NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine's efforts to ensure that this proposal did not take funding from other NASA programs. This should continue. We do not support the proposed language giving the administrator the ability to move appropriations between programs without Congressional oversight.

NASA is and should remain a nonpartisan investment by the United States. To that end, we strongly urge the administration to work in a bipartisan manner to avoid pitting space funding against other important programs, to support critical space science investments, and to provide a multi-year commitment to human exploration at the Moon and beyond.”

Press Resources

Casey Dreier, Chief Advocate and Senior Space Policy Adviser, is available for interviews. Please arrange with Danielle Gunn, chief communications officer, at [email protected]

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