The U.S. Senate has passed President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation bill that grants billions more for NASA’s flagship Artemis program. This $10 billion addition to the Artemis architecture includes funding for additional Space Launch System rockets and an orbiting station around the moon called Gateway.
According to NASA, the Artemis campaign is “exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.” The space agency plans to “collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.”
The latest development has come in spite of opposition from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman — who Musk proposed as the next NASA administrator — who wished to see alternative technologies being used. This comes amid souring relations between Musk and Trump.
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Musk in particular has been critical of the use of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the grounds that it is fully expendable. Unlike SpaceX’s family of rockets, which are all designed to be reusable, SLS is one-time use only. As Musk stated back in 2020, this means that “a billion-dollar rocket is blown up,” following every launch. Recent figures from a NASA watchdog claim the cost is even higher — with recurring production costs close to $2.5 billion each.
Isaacman also questioned these large sums during his recent confirmation hearings with the Senate. While he affirmed using SLS for the next two Artemis missions, he said that he didn’t think the rocket was “the long‑term way to get to and from the moon and to Mars with great frequency.” Isaacman had previously come up with a plan to “modernize NASA, and make it more efficient.”
Despite it all, Congress has decided to go ahead with the bill. Around $4.1 billion of the net $10 billion in the document will go toward additional SLS rockets for Artemis missions 4 and 5, while around $2.6 billion will go toward completion of the Gateway station.
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It is worth to note the new funding goes against the president’s fiscal year budget request for NASA submitted in May proposed to “phase out the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft after the Artemis III mission is complete.” This was submitted prior to Musk and Trump’s fallout, so there has been some speculation if that has affected the decision.
The new funding includes $700 million for a new Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, $1.25 billion for additional operation of the International Space Station (ISS), and $325 million to SpaceX for the development of a spacecraft to de-orbit the ISS at the end of the decade. The total amount for the de-orbit spacecraft is $843 million.
Recently, a test for the Artemis mission ran into trouble with a nozzle being blown off a rocket booster. An upgraded version of one of the solid rocket boosters being used for the SLS experienced an anomaly during a test on June 26, causing an outburst of flames from the top of the engine nozzle.