This is not a new idea. After the successful launch of the Artemis II mission this week, NASA will fly the SLS rocket at least a few more times, perhaps through Artemis V, as Congress has mandated. The budget proposal released Friday supports this plan. Isaacman has stated his desire to see NASA move away from the expendable SLS rocket when a commercial alternative, such as SpaceX’s Starship or Blue Origin’s New Glenn, becomes available for human launches. That is still at least several years off.
“To execute missions beyond Artemis V, NASA will initiate a new procurement to obtain commercial transportation services to launch astronauts to rendezvous with the lunar landers,” the agency said in a budget summary that was published on Friday. This new procurement is expected to begin in fiscal year 2027, NASA said.
Elements of the vision unveiled by Isaacman and other NASA officials last week, such as deep space nuclear propulsion, nuclear reactors on the Moon, and prospecting for lunar resources, will require significant investment in new space technology. One new space tech project NASA would initiate under this budget is funding to support a commercial effort to produce, store, transfer, and test rocket propellant generated from resources on the Moon’s surface.
But the overall news for NASA’s space tech portfolio is not good. The White House proposes a $297 million reduction in NASA’s space technology directorate relative to this year—and $476 million less than 2025—with cuts targeted at what the Trump administration calls “frivolous technology projects with no applications.”
The White House budget office also proposes cutting $1.1 billion in funding for the International Space Station, keeping the retirement and de-orbit of the ISS on track for 2030. This runs counter to a congressional bill supported by key lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), extending the ISS until 2032.
NASA announced last week a new strategy to help commercial companies develop their own crewed outposts to replace the ISS in low-Earth orbit. Despite delays and concerns about the readiness of a new commercial station when NASA retires the ISS, the White House requested only a small increase in funding for this program in 2027.
The administration’s spending plan would continue Trump’s long-running effort to zero out funding for NASA’s education programs.