Trump is calling Artemis II’s moon mission as an ‘America First’ win, while quietly asking Congress to cut NASA by 23%

The Trump administration is pushing to cut NASA‘s funding by 23 percent, even as it publicly celebrates the Artemis II moon mission as a major “America First” victory. The proposed 2027 budget request sent to Congress tells a very different story about the future of space exploration. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, the plan includes a 46 percent cut specifically to NASA’s science programs, which are central to how spacecraft are developed and how data from space is studied and understood.

The proposed budget would cancel 53 science missions and directly affect the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has been a world leader in space technology for decades. The lab has already gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and lost funding for its Mars Sample Return mission over the last two years. The disconnect between the public celebration of lunar success and these quiet cuts to space research is hard to ignore.

Cutting these missions puts America’s space leadership at serious risk

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has defended the proposal, saying the agency is pursuing “a focused and right-sized portfolio” and that the budget reinforces U.S. leadership in space science through next-generation observatories and new missions. But former staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory describe a very different reality, with employees scrambling to find private funding and sell technology just to keep the lab running.

One former employee who left after more than a decade said it plainly: “If we are not doing science, then what are we doing?”  Specific missions are already at risk. The Perseverance rover, which is currently collecting soil and rock samples on Mars, could see its operations slowed down. The Veritas mission to Venus, which was set to be the first U.S. mission to that planet in over 30 years, now appears to be canceled.

The New Horizons spacecraft, which explores the outer edges of our solar system, and the Juno spacecraft, currently studying Jupiter, are also among the projects slated for cancellation, according to an analysis by the Planetary Society.

NASA is also tracking a house-sized asteroid making a close pass by Earth, a reminder of how much the agency’s monitoring work still matters. Casey Dreier, the chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, said there is no logical reason for these cuts, noting that “these programs are still producing excellent science.”

While the administration frames the lunar program as a way to establish a permanent base and secure resources like water ice and rare earth minerals to compete with China, scientists are warning that the country cannot simply abandon its other exploratory efforts at the same time, reports the BBC.

Congress has been pushing back. Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas has already said he views the proposed cuts as a mistake and plans to hold a hearing with Administrator Isaacman before the end of April. Representative Judy Chu, whose district includes the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has also spoken out about the uncertainty this creates for the workforce and for long-term planning.

This is not the first time such cuts have been proposed. Last year, the administration attempted a similar move, and Congress ultimately rejected the deepest cuts, approving $24.4 billion for the agency instead of the lower amount that was requested. That outcome offers some hope that history could repeat itself this time around.

It is also worth noting that NASA’s Artemis program has faced scrutiny over other issues, including the oversight failures in its moon crew preparation, raising broader questions about how the agency manages its priorities. For now, NASA will use this proposal as a road map, which is already creating serious problems for researchers and contractors who need stability to plan ahead.

Roohi Dalal of the American Astronomical Society pointed out that it is confusing to see the scientific community “providing the critical services that keep astronauts safe,” only to face significant budget threats at the same time. Scientists are urging the government to recognize that space exploration and science are not two separate things; you cannot have one without the other.