The White House has proposed slashing NASA's budget by 24 percent, dropping it from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. If approved, it would mark one of the agency's deepest single-year cuts in federal support, and crash its inflation-adjusted funding to levels not seen in decades.

The cuts are just a recommendation at this point to Congress, not a done deal. NASA has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, notably from Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Both are likely to fight hard against this downgrade, which would effectively give China the lead in space science and research.

Under the proposed spending overhaul [PDF] from the Office of Management and Budget this week – following days of speculation – NASA's Moon-bound Artemis program will undergo a major shakeup, with the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule slated for retirement after Artemis III, the flagship mission to put American boots back on the lunar surface this decade.

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The budget document leans heavily on the commercial sector NASA nurtured and helped spawn – cough, SpaceX – to pick up the slack from the cuts; the agency will be kept clear of areas "better suited to private sector research and development."

Although Elon Musk – the billionaire SpaceX supremo, DOGE head operative, and President Trump's éminence grease – is ostensibly stepping back from guiding government, this draft budget is particularly good news for him, his rocket biz, and his long-held, under-delivered ambitions to send people to Mars. ®