WASHINGTON — Billions of dollars will flow to NASA projects that are key to Huntsville’s space economy now that President Donald Trump has signed his big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.
After funding for the Space Launch System and Orion capsule was in jeopardy from budget cuts in Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request, money for the programs is now secured for the next few years as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill. Separately, Senate appropriators, including Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., are also working to protect NASA funding agencywide for the 2026 fiscal year.
The federal spending plans come as the Trump administration seeks to downsize staffing at the space agency.
The Space Launch System, the heavy-lift launch vehicle that can send astronauts to the moon, will get $4.1 billion for Artemis missions IV and V through 2029. The SLS is managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. In total, nearly $10 billion is allocated for space funding, including Mars and Artemis missions and the Moon to Mars program.
“The Space Launch System is essential,” U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, told Alabama Daily News last week.
“We have the scientists and the propulsion experts and space exploration is alive and well, and I commend the senators for what they did. I think that Marshall is perfectly positioned, but this SLS project has got to go a lot longer than 2028, and that’s why I’ll also be supporting it.”
The budget request called for phasing out the SLS after Artemis II and III, but the Senate’s amendment to the megabill, which was signed into law Friday, will allow NASA to complete two other missions.
A bipartisan appropriations bill that is still being negotiated would also bolster annual funding for NASA. It would push back against the White House’s budget request, which called for reducing the NASA budget to $18.8 billion, about a 24% decrease from fiscal year 2025 funding levels. NASA’s FY 25 budget was $24.8 billion.
“The bill funds NASA at $24.9 billion, slightly above fiscal year 2025, to explore the solar system, to advance our understanding of climate change, promote innovation and sustainability and aeronautics and protect our planet,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, said at an appropriations markup on the spending bill Thursday.
Britt told reporters Wednesday that the Senate will work in a bipartisan manner to support the “critical work” done at NASA.
“For NASA, the bill reflects an ambitious approach to space exploration, prioritizing the agency’s flagship program, Artemis, and rejecting premature terminations of systems like SLS and Orion before commercial replacements are ready,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, said at Thursday’s markup.
After the Senate passed the megabill, Britt touted her work securing funding for the NASA programs that are critical to Huntsville as one of the ways the legislation “delivered for Alabamians.”
🚀 Investing in NASA & U.S. space superiority.
✅ $4.1 billion to fund 2 Space Launch System rockets for Artemis IV and V missions.
✅ $1 billion for infrastructure improvements at manned spaceflight centers, including $100 million for repairs & upgrades to Marshall Space Flight…— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) July 2, 2025
The lunar Gateway, the first space station that’s set to orbit the moon, will receive $2.6 billion. Marshall Space Flight Center also provides support for the Gateway project.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will carry a crew to lunar orbit and back to Earth as part of the Artemis missions, is set to get $20 million under the newly passed bill.
The International Space Station, which NASA workers at Marshall support through the Payload Operations Integration Center, is allocated $1.25 billion for its work conducting science experiments to study for stays and missions to the Moon and Mars.
The bill gives $1 billion for infrastructure improvement projects at spaceflight centers around the country, including $100 million for construction and infrastructure projects at Marshall.
The NASA center in Huntsville employs more than 7,000 workers. The agency’s presence in Alabama contributes $8 billion to the state’s economic output, including $265.2 million in state revenue, according to a NASA state economic report. The agency’s operations in the state also support more than 35,000 jobs, according to the report.
The Marshall Space Flight Center is set to lose 279 senior-level workers as the federal government shrinks its workforce, POLITICO reported. In total, at least 2,145 senior staffers are set to depart NASA, according to the report. NASA would not comment on the numbers in the report.
“There is no set target number for the (Deferred Resignation Program),” a NASA spokesperson said in a statement to Alabama Daily News. “This program is a voluntary opportunity available to NASA employees.”
“NASA remains committed to our mission as we work within a more prioritized budget. We are working closely with the administration to ensure that America continues to lead the way in space exploration, advancing progress on key goals including the Moon and Mars.”
Marshall Space Flight Center recently celebrated its 65th anniversary. Alabama’s entire delegation joined resolutions to honor the achievement.