When Congress passed a fiscal year 2026 “minibus” appropriations bill in January, much of the space community breathed a sigh of relief. Congress had rejected the steep cuts proposed by the Trump administration, including a nearly 25% reduction in the agency’s overall budget and nearly 50% to science. The agency ended up with funding close to its 2025 level.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...