Budget of NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA insignia
Agency overview
Formed	July 29, 1958
Annual budget	$19.3 billion (Fiscal Year 2016, about 0.486% of total budget at about $4 trillion)[1]

As a federal agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) receives its funding from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress. The following charts detail the amount of federal funding allotted to NASA each year over its past fifty-year history (1958–2009) to operate aeronautics research, unmanned and manned space exploration programs.

Annual budget, 1958-2015

NASA's budget as percentage of federal total, from 1958 to 2012

Seen in the year-by-year breakdown listed below, the total amounts (in nominal dollars) that NASA has been budgeted from 1958 to 2011 amounts to $526.178 billion—an average of $9.928 billion per year. By way of comparison, total spending over this period by the National Science Foundation was roughly one-fifth of NASA's expenditures: $101.5 billion, or $2 billion a year.^[2] NASA's FY 2011 budget of $18.4 billion represented about 0.5% of the $3.4 trillion United States federal budget during that year, or about 35% of total spending on academic scientific research in the United States.^[3]

According to the Office of Management and Budget and the Air Force Almanac, when measured in real terms (adjusted for inflation), the figure is $790.0 billion, or an average of $15.818 billion per year over its fifty-year history.

History of NASA's annual budget (millions of US dollars)

Calendar Year NASA budget Nominal Dollars (Millions) % of Fed Budget[4][5] 2014 Constant Dollars (Millions) 1958 89 0.1% 732 1959 145 0.2% 1,185 1960 401 0.5% 3,222 1961 744 0.9% 5,918 1962 1,257 1.18% 9,900 1963 2,552 2.29% 19,836 1964 4,171 3.52% 32,002 1965 5,092 4.31% 38,448 1966 5,933 4.41% 43,554 1967 5,425 3.45% 38,633 1968 4,722 2.65% 32,274 1969 4,251 2.31% 27,550 1970 3,752 1.92% 23,000 1971 3,382 1.61% 19,862 1972 3,423 1.48% 19,477 1973 3,312 1.35% 17,742 1974 3,255 1.21% 15,704 1975 3,269 0.98% 14,452 1976 3,671 0.99% 15,345 1977 4,002 0.98% 15,707 1978 4,164 0.91% 15,190 1979 4,380 0.87% 14,349 1980 4,959 0.84% 14,314 1981 5,537 0.82% 14,488 1982 6,155 0.83% 15,170 1983 6,853 0.85% 16,365 1984 7,055 0.83% 16,150 1985 7,251 0.77% 16,028 1986 7,403 0.75% 16,065 1987 7,591 0.76% 15,893

Calendar Year NASA budget Nominal Dollars (Millions) % of Fed Budget[4][5] 2014 Constant Dollars (Millions) 1988 9,092 0.85% 18,280 1989 11,036 0.96% 21,168 1990 12,429 0.99% 22,618 1991 13,878 1.05% 24,235 1992 13,961 1.01% 23,668 1993 14,305 1.01% 23,546 1994 13,695 0.94% 21,979 1995 13,378 0.88% 20,879 1996 13,881 0.89% 21,042 1997 14,360 0.90% 21,280 1998 14,194 0.86% 20,712 1999 13,636 0.80% 19,467 2000 13,428 0.75% 18,547 2001 14,095 0.76% 18,940 2002 14,405 0.72% 19,045 2003 14,610 0.68% 18,885 2004 15,152 0.66% 19,078 2005 15,602 0.63% 19,001 2006 15,125 0.57% 17,844 2007 15,861 0.58% 18,194 2008 17,833 0.60% 19,700 2009 [6] 17,782 0.57% 19,714 2010 18,724 0.52% 20,423 FY2011 [7] 18,448 0.51% 17,833 FY2012 [8] 17,770 0.50% 17,471 FY2013 [9] 16,865 0.49% 17,219 FY2014 [10] 17,647 0.50% 17,647 2015 18,010[11] 2016 (Final 2016 Spending Bill) 19,300 2017 (projected) 18,807 [10] 2018 (projected) 19,089 [10] 2019 (projected) 19,375 [10] 2020 (projected) 19,666 [10]

Notes for table: Sources for a part of these data: U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (needs proper citation-link, numbers here differ from NASA Pocket Statistics),
Air Force Association's Air Force Magazine 2007 Space Almanac
Secondary references:

NASA employment

Year Total NASA (In-House) Employees Contractor (Out-of-house) Employees # % # % 1959 Unknown 9,235 1960 46,700 ~13,500 (#6: 10,232) ~29% ~33,200 ~71% 1961 75,000 ~17,300 (#6: 17,471) ~23% ~57,800 ~77% 1962 139,200 ~22,300 (#6: 23,686) ~16% ~117,000 ~84% 1963 284,300 ~37,000 (#6: 29,934) ~13% ~247,300 ~87% 1964 379,600 ~38,000 (#6: 32,499) ~10% ~341,600 ~90% 1965 411,000 Peak ~41,100 (#6: 34,049) ~10% ~369,900 ~90% 1966 396,000 ~31,700 (#6: 35,708) ~8% ~364,300 ~92% 1967 309,100 ~37,100 (#6: 35,860) ~12% ~272,000 ~88% 1968 246,200 ~29,500 (#6: 34,641) ~12% ~216,700 ~88% 1969 ~218,000 34,197 ~16% ~180,000 ~84% 1970 32,779 1971 30,678 1972 28,501 1973 26,855 1974 26,068 1975 25,683 1976 25,482 1977 24,241 1978 23,850 1979 43,312 23,360 ~54% 19,952 ~46% 1980 43,764 22,470 ~51% 20,294 ~49% 1981 44,436 22,736 ~51% 21,700 ~49% 1982 Lowest 42,399 22,310 ~53% 20,089 ~47% 1983 43,196 22,534 ~52% 20,662 ~48% 1984 44,735 21,870 ~49% 22,865 ~51% 1985 46,784 22,316 ~48% 21,423 ~52%

Year Total NASA (In-House) Employees Contractor (Out-of-house) Employees # % # % 1986 45,647 21,960 ~48% 23,687 ~52% 1987 44,379 22,646 ~51% 21,733 ~49% 1988 52,224 22,823 ~44% 29,401 ~56% 1989 22,893 1990 24,566 1991 25,741 1992 25,421 1993 24,731 (#6: 25,062) 1994 24,265 (#6: 23,097) 1995 23,075 (#6: 20,563) 1996 19,693 1997 21,508 1998 20,238 1999 19,272 2000 18,981 2001 18,872 2002 19,073 2003 18,999 2004 19,097 2005 19,388 2006 18,737 2007 18,527 2008 18,520 2009 18,567 2010 18,618 2011 18,744 2012 ~79,000 ~19,000 ~24% ~60,000 ~76%

Reference:

1. Years 1960-1968^[12][13]

2. Years 1969-1978^[14]

3. Years 1979-1988^[15]

4. CS, Years 1993-1995^[16][17]

5. Year 2012^[18]

6. CS, Year 1959-1968, 1989-1996, NASA Pocket Stats: http://history.nasa.gov/pocketstats/sect%20D/CS%20Trend.pdf

7. CS, Year 1993-2011, Workforce Information Cubes: https://wicn.nssc.nasa.gov

8. Contractors, 1969: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4102/ch5.htm

Cost of Apollo program

NASA's budget peaked in 1966, during the Apollo program

NASA's budget peaked in 1964-66, when it consumed roughly 4% of federal spending. The agency was building up to the first moon landing; the Apollo program involved more than 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors.

In March 1966, NASA officials told Congress that the 1959-72 "run-out cost" of the Apollo program would be an estimated $22.718 billion. The total cost turned out to be between $20 and $25.4 billion in 1969 dollars (about $136 billion in 2007 dollars).

The costs of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets came to about $83 billion in 2005 dollars. Apollo spacecraft cost $28 billion, including the Command/Service Module, $17 billion; Lunar Module, $11 billion; and launch vehicles (Saturn I, Saturn IB, Saturn V cost about $46 billion in 2005 dollars).

Economic impact of NASA funding

A November 1971 study of NASA released by MRIGlobal (formerly Midwest Research Institute) of Kansas City, Missouri ("Technological Progress and Commercialization of Communications Satellites." In: "Economic Impact of Stimulated Technological Activity") concluded that "the $25 billion in 1958 dollars spent on civilian space R & D during the 1958-1969 period has returned $52 billion through 1971 -- and will continue to produce pay offs through 1987, at which time the total pay off will have been $181 billion. The discounted rate of return for this investment will have been 33 percent."

A map from NASA's web site illustrating its economic impact on the U.S. states (as of FY2003)

A 1992 commentary in the British science journal Nature reported:^[19]

"The economic benefits of NASA's programs are greater than generally realized. The main beneficiaries (the American public) may not even realize the source of their good fortune. . ."

Other statistics on NASA's economic impact may be found in the 1976 Chase Econometrics Associates, Inc. reports^[20] and backed by the 1989 Chapman Research report, which examined 259 non-space applications of NASA technology during an eight-year period (1976–1984) and found more than:

• $21.6 billion in sales and benefits
• 352,000 (mostly skilled) jobs created or saved
• $355 million in federal corporate income taxes

According to the "Nature" commentary, these 259 applications represent ". . .only 1% of an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Space program spin-offs."

In 2014, the American Helicopter Society criticized NASA and the government for reducing the annual rotorcraft budget from $50 million in 2000 to $23 million in 2013, impacting commercial opportunities.^[21]

Public perception

The perceived national security threat posed by early Soviet leads in spaceflight drove NASA's budget to its peak, both in real inflation-adjusted dollars and in percentage of total federal budget (4.41% in 1966). But the U.S. victory in the Space Race — landing men on the Moon — erased the perceived threat, and NASA was unable to sustain political support for its vision of an even more ambitious Space Transportation System entailing reusable Earth-to-orbit shuttles, a permanent space station, lunar bases, and a manned mission to Mars. Only a scaled-back Space Shuttle was approved, and NASA's funding leveled off at just under 1% in 1976, then declined to 0.75% in 1986. After a brief increase to 1.01% in 1992, it declined to about 0.49% in 2013.

The American public, on average, believes NASA's budget has a much larger share of the federal budget than it actually does. A 1997 poll reported that Americans had an average estimate of 20% for NASA's share of the federal budget, far higher than the actual 0.5% to under 1% that has been maintained throughout the late '90s and first decade of the 2000s.^[22] It is estimated that most Americans spent less than $9 on NASA through personal income tax in 2009.^[23]

However, there has been a recent movement to communicate discrepancy between perception and reality of NASA's budget as well as lobbying to return the funding back to the 1970-1990 level. The United States Senate Science Committee met in March 2012 where astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson testified that "Right now, NASA's annual budget is half a penny on your tax dollar. For twice that—a penny on a dollar—we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow."^[24][25] Inspired by Tyson's advocacy and remarks, the Penny4NASA campaign was initiated in 2012 by John Zeller and advocates the doubling of NASA's budget to one percent of the Federal Budget, or one "penny on the dollar."^[26]

To help with public perception and to raise awareness regarding the widespread benefits of NASA-funded programs and technologies, NASA instituted the Spinoffs publication. This was a direct offshoot of the Technology Utilization Program Report, a "publication dedicated to informing the scientific community about available NASA technologies, and ongoing requests received for supporting information." according to the NASA Spinoff about page the technologies in these reports created interest in the technology transfer concept, its successes, and its use as a public awareness tool. The reports generated such keen interest by the public that NASA decided to make them into an attractive publication. Thus, the first four-color edition of Spinoff was published in 1976.^[27]

Related legislation

• 1961— Apollo mission funding PL 87-98 A
• 1970— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research and Development Act, PL 91-119
• 1984— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act, PL 98-361
• 1988— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act, PL 100-685
• 2005— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005, PL 109-155^[28]
• 2010— National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010
• 2014– (proposed) National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4412; 113th Congress)^[29]

See also

• Space policy of the United States
• Federal budget (United States)
• Budget
• Space exploration
• Vision for Space Exploration

References

1. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/NASA_FY_2016_Budget_Estimates.pdf
2. "Budget Internet Information System". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
3. "Federal Spending on Academic Research Continued Downward Trend in 2007". August 25, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
4. % of total federal expenditures from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/01/nasa-budgets-us-spending-space-travel
5. 1999-2010 based on federal outlays from: Federal budget (United States)#Total outlays in recent budget submissions
6. 2011 Budget Overview
7. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/632697main_NASA_FY13_Budget_Summary-508.pdf
8. http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/750614main_NASA_FY_2014_Budget_Estimates-508.pdf
9. 2015 NASA Budget Estimates
10. 2016 NASA Budget Estimates
11. Clark, Stephen (2014-12-14). "NASA gets budget hike in spending bill passed by Congress". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
12. NASA Historical Databook, 1958-1968, Volume I, NASA Resources, NASA SP-4012v1, 1976, Page 10, http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012v1.pdf
13. For general discussion on Years 1960-1968, see Chapter 3 of NASA Historical Databook, 1958-1968, Volume I, NASA Resources, NASA SP-4012v1, 1976
14. SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK: VOLUME IV, NASA RESOURCES 1969-1978, Table 3-1 (Titled: Civilian and Military In-house Personnel (at end of fiscal year)), Link: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol4/t3.1.htm
15. NASA Historical Data Books (SP-4012), Volume VI: NASA Space Applications, Aeronautics and Space Research and Technology, Tracking and Data Acquisition/Support Operations, Commercial Programs, and Resources, 1979-1988, Compiled by Judy A. Rumerman, 1999, Reference: Chapter 7: NASA Personnel, Table 7-1 (Titled: Total NASA Workforce (at end of fiscal year), Page 468 Link: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol6/cover6.html
16. http://www.gao.gov/assets/230/223061.pdf
17. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-176/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-176.htm
18. http://employeeorientation.nasa.gov/contractors/default.htm
19. Roger H. Bezdek & Robert M. Wendling (January 9, 1992). "Sharing out NASA's spoils" (PDF). Nature (Nature Publishing Group) 355 (6356): 105–106. Bibcode:1992Natur.355..105B. doi:10.1038/355105a0. Retrieved 2008-03-30. The economic benefits of NASA's programmes are greater than generally recognized. The main beneficiaries may not even realize the source of their good fortune.
20. "The Economic Impact of NASA R&D Spending: Preliminary Executive Summary.", April 1975. Also: "Relative Impact of NASA Expenditure on the Economy.", March 18, 1975
21. Hirschberg, Mike. "Investing in Tomorrow’s Civil Rotorcraft" American Helicopter Society, July-August 2014. Accessed: 7 October 2014. Archived on 7 October 2014
22. Launius, Roger D. "Public opinion polls and perceptions of US human spaceflight". Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
23. "Personal Income Tax Paid To NASA In 2009 By Income Level". NASACost.com.
24. "Past, Present, and Future of NASA - U.S. Senate Testimony". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012.
25. "Past, Present, and Future of NASA - U.S. Senate Testimony (Video)". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012.
26. "Why We Fight - Penny4NASA". Penny4NASA. Retrieved 30 Nov 2012.
27. "About Spinoff". NASA. No date given. Retrieved 26 Nov 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005, PL 109-155, US Government, December 30, 2005.
29. "H.R. 4412 - Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 9 June 2014.

• Inflation Index
• Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009
• Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008
• The National Debt in FY 2007 - $406 Billion spent on interest payments compared to NASA at $16 Billion, Education at $61 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $56 Billion.
• Medicare, Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Program information
• U.S. Census Clock
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (Research and Development programs budget extract)
• "NASA chief set to cut projects" Orlando Sentinel - Apr. 6, 2007
• "NASA budget $550M less than hoped" Florida Today - Feb. 15, 2007
• "NASA, other agencies denied pay raise" MSNBC and Space.com - Feb. 15, 2007
• "JPL faces program cuts with fewer NASA funds" Pasadena Star News - Feb. 7, 2007
• "NASA Spending Plan Reflects White House Policy" Space News/Space.com - Feb. 5, 2007
• "Highlights of NASA's FY 2008 Budget Request" Remarks by NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin's during Feb. 5, 2007 press conference at NASA Headquarters
• "NASA's FY 2008 Budget Full Report (4.2Mb PDF) - Feb. 5, 2007
• "NASA's FY 2008 Budget" Budget Summary (710Kb PDF) - Feb. 5, 2007
• "NASA FY 2008 Budget" Presentation Chart (743 Kb PDF) - Feb. 5, 2007
• "Congress may trim NASA budget" Florida Today - Feb. 4, 2007
• "Should NASA be a spending priority?" The Position Page: The Blog of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board - Feb. 2, 2007
• "Coalition for Space Exploration Statement Regarding U.S. House of Representatives Budget Proposal" SpaceRef.com - Feb. 1, 2007
• "NASA faces budget cutbacks" Florida Today - Feb. 1, 2007
• "House budget proposal could delay shuttle replacement" Space News/Space.com - Jan. 31, 2007
• "NASA announces FY 08 budget press conference" NASA Media Advisory #M07-014 - Jan. 30, 2007
• "Planetary Society petitions President to save space science" SpaceRef.com - Jan. 22, 2007
• "IFPTE Calls for Balanced and Transparent NASA Budget Preserving Science & Aero, Core Technical Capabilities Achievable Within FY06 baseline" SpaceRef.com - Jan. 2, 2007
• NASA's portion of the Budget of the United States Government, FY 2007 Office of Management and Budget (through the U.S. Government Printing Office)
• NASA 2006 Strategic Plan
• NASA 2006 Pocket Statistics
• NASA FY2006 Budget breakdown
• NASA FY2006 Performance and Accountability Report
• H.R. 3070 - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005 (from Congressional Budget Office, July 20, 2005 - Cost estimate for the bill as reported by the House Committee on Science on July 18, 2005)
• NASA Previous Years (FY2005, FY2004 and FY2003) Performance and Accountability Reports
• NASA FY2003 and Previous Years' Budget
• NASA Strategy based on long-term affordability Budget Chart - Jan. 14, 2004
• Midwest Research Institute homepage

External links

• Table 1 -- NASA's budget compared to other federal government expenditures (1999 Data)
• Table 2 -- NASA's budget compared to various consumer expenditures (1997 Data)
• Table 3 -- NASA's budget compared to the budgets of the 50 state governments (1997 Data)
• Table 4 -- NASA's budget compared to revenues of various large corporations (1998 Data)
• NASA - Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports (NASA - Budget Information)