Since its launch in 2016, NASA’s University Leadership Initiative has educated more than 1,100 students at 100 universities through large-scale, multiyear research projects that advance NASA’s aviation priorities. The anniversary arrives at a critical moment for NASA’s research and education programs.
While the House’s proposed cuts are less extensive than those proposed by the president in his FY27 budget request, if enacted, the House bill would inflict serious harm on the American scientific research enterprise.
Across the country, NASA funds research projects on university campuses that are developing new technologies for robotic exploration, advancing our understanding of the universe, yielding useful knowledge of our planet and solar system, and training the next generation of scientists and engineers. On April 21, a showcase, “Igniting Discovery: How NASA Funding Advances American Science,” exhibited some of that research on Capitol Hill.
AAU and other associations urge Congress to appropriate 9 billion dollars for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in FY 2027 to maintain U.S. leadership in space science, advance decadal priorities across planetary, astrophysics, and Earth science missions, and support the national STEM workforce and innovation-driven economy.
Though NASA’s astronauts are back on Earth following the completion of the Artemis II mission, the scientific impact of their historic trip around the moon will continue to reverberate for years to come – and research from AAU member universities is partially responsible for the success of the program that launched it.
AAU urges Congress to reject the proposed cuts to scientific agencies in the FY27 Presidential Budget Request.
FY27 | Press Releases | National Institutes of Health | National Science Foundation | Department of Energy | NASA | Federal Budget
The Coalition for Aerospace and Science Urges Congress to Appropriate at Least $26B for NASA in FY27
The Coalition for Aerospace and Science urges Congress to appropriate at least 26 billion dollars for NASA in FY 2027, including specified increases across NASA’s science, technology, exploration, operations, aeronautics, and STEM engagement directorates, to sustain U.S. leadership in a new era of space exploration and competition.
Letters | FY27 | Appropriations Tables | NASA
A coalition of science, education, and space advocacy organizations, led by the Planetary Society and including AAU, called on congressional leaders last week to protect NASA Science from destructive budget cuts proposed by the White House.
AAU signs letter urging congressional appropriators to include an anomaly in any continuing resolution to prevent NASA’s Science Mission Directorate from effectively receiving the White House’s proposed 47% cut, which would force the premature termination of dozens of missions despite Congress rejecting such reductions.
The Senate and House are advancing competing FY26 appropriations bills that would set different funding levels for key science agencies like the National Science Foundation and NASA.