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Trump's 2026 budget reimagines NASA's Artemis, hands moon missions to private sector

The proposal puts forth a ‘sustainable’ budget that shuts down the Gateway moon-orbiting space station and halts SLS and Orion.

BY MAHALEKSHMI P

PUBLISHED 4 HOURS AGO

NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule attached, launches at the Kennedy Space Center on November 16, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Cover Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The White House released its "skinny budget" proposal for fiscal year 2026 on Friday, with major financial decisions transforming NASA's moon programs. As the budget slashes down the agency's funds by $6 billion, this could have a significant impact on the Artemis missions. As they aim to establish human presence on the moon by the next five years, NASA's "legacy human exploration systems" funding gets cut by $879 million, as per Space.com. The plan also involves retiring the Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket, the Orion capsule, and immediate termination of the Gateway lunar space station.

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft attached rests on launch pad 39B as final preparations are made for the Artemis I mission at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on November 15, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The SLS rocket and Orion capsule will be retired post-Artemis III to develop cost-efficient and next-generation commercial systems, as per NASA. The Gateway Program’s already produced components will be repurposed for other missions. The future missions to the moon shall be supported by the next-generation systems in the plan. "SLS alone costs $4 billion per launch and is 140% over budget," the budget document stated. "The budget funds a program to replace SLS and Orion flights…would support more ambitious subsequent lunar missions," the proposal added.

A large video screen is set up prior to the launch of the Artemis 1 moon rocket and the Orion spacecraft on November 13, 2022, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Red Huber/Getty Images)

The previous flight of SLS and Orion was on Artemis 1, a 25-day flight of an unmanned Orion to lunar orbit and back at the end of 2022. The next flights on Artemis will mark their journey’s end if Congress approves the budget proposal. Scheduled for spring 2026, the Artemis 2 mission will take four astronauts to the moon. Whereas, Artemis 3 plans to land people near the moon's south pole in 2027. Some works of the 2027 Gateway have been made, such as the Italian main habitation module, HALO, arriving in America, but this project will be terminated indefinitely.

NASA's Orion Capsule of the successful uncrewed Artemis I Moon Mission is drawn toward the U.S.S. Portland on December 11, 2022, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. (Photo by Caroline Brehman-Pool/Getty Images)

The commercial systems that the administration guns for were likely to be provided by SpaceX and/or Blue Origin. Both agencies are working on crewed lunar landers for the Artemis missions and rockets for astronauts. For SpaceX, this would be Starship and New Glenn for Blue Origin, as per Space.com. As these missions gained the most attention in terms of budget cuts, the plans for Mars missions also grabbed attention. However, many other NASA programs were slashed down by the "skinny" 2026 budget request and faced reallocation of funding.

A member of the US Navy and NASA Landing and Recovery Team practices retrieving astronauts from a test version of the Orion capsule on February 06, 2023, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

These demands were immensely opposed by science, industry, and advocacy groups who united to voice their disagreement. A nonprofit organization working for space exploration called The Planetary Society is rallying against the cuts through a joint letter to Congress. These cuts are against the American vision of the administration, where they must “lead the way in fueling the pursuit of space discovery and exploration.” The budget was reportedly overseen by OMB Director Russ Vought, without the involvement of a NASA Administrator, making it less efficient.

A widespread termination of fundamental missions will be a setback in the field of space exploration and will be a waste of investment. The budget also cuts down the initiatives of space science by $2.3 billion and Earth science by $1.2 billion. The proposal puts an end to NASA's Mars sample return program, where the Perseverance rover shall send back samples to Earth. Funds shall also be eliminated for “low-priority climate monitoring satellites.” These efforts are in tandem with the Administration’s wanting to return to the moon before China and put a man on Mars, as per Fox News.