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NASA quietly talking to Congress about more moon money

The agency has begun reaching out to lawmakers as it pushes to meet President Trump’s moon landing timeline.

By Audrey Decker

NASA has begun quietly lobbying Congress for a major cash infusion — perhaps as much as several billion dollars — as the agency pushes to meet President Donald Trump’s ambitious order to land astronauts on the moon in 2028.

The exact details of the request are in flux and the discussions are still preliminary, according to two congressional staffers and one industry representative. But the agency needs the money to pay for redesigning a moon landing spacecraft, and after a disastrous explosion on Blue Origin’s launchpad in Cape Canaveral jeopardized key lunar missions.

Final costs also haven’t been nailed down.

But one congressional staffer, who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss the tentative plans, put the request at “a few billion dollars.” The money could be tacked on to a future reconciliation bill, or possibly hitch a ride on a standalone supplemental spending measure, although GOP leaders have expressed doubts about a third party-line spending package.

The agency faces a huge time and spending crunch to meet Trump’s goals to land American astronauts on the moon and start building a lunar base. Without an influx of new cash, NASA could pull money from other programs, but it’s not clear what initiatives the agency would be able to cut.

The extra money would help NASA pay for a redesigned lunar lander — which would be simplified to meet agency deadlines — that would ferry astronauts down to the moon’s surface, according to the two congressional staffers. The agency aims to test new lunar landers in 2027 ahead of a crewed landing on the moon in 2028.

The push also comes after a huge explosion on Blue Origin’s only launchpad. The agency was banking on using the company’s New Glenn rocket to land cargo and crew on the moon, but with the launchpad out of commission for the foreseeable future, NASA is exploring new lander spacecraft designs and alternative launch vehicles.

Finding a legislative vehicle will be tricky, particularly given that even GOP lawmakers are skeptical they can pull off another partisan budget bill ahead of August recess. Republicans are trying to pass a second reconciliation bill this week to fund immigration enforcement, while readying a third package within the next few weeks — following last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“After the immense success of Artemis II, NASA has routinely fielded inbounds on how Congress can be most helpful in achieving President Trump’s national space policy which directs the agency to return to the Moon, build the Base, and prepare for where we go next,” the agency said in a statement. “As a result, NASA is in constant communication with lawmakers.”

Blue Origin and SpaceX have contracts to develop lunar landers, and last year NASA instructed both companies to see how they can simplify their offerings to speed up the delivery of the cutting-edge spacecraft. NASA originally had planned to go with a moon lander from SpaceX for its first crewed moon landing, but agency officials grew concerned that Elon Musk’s company won’t have its Starship rocket ready in time, and asked Blue Origin if it could deliver something faster.

Blue Origin has since been working on modifying its Mark 1 lander, intended as an uncrewed cargo vehicle, to develop a new lander that would carry human beings. The company’s new lander wouldn’t require in-space refueling — a complex engineering feat that Blue Origin and SpaceX have been working on, but that neither company has pulled off yet.

The company’s plans were disrupted after the May 28 explosion destroyed the company’s only launchpad. Blue Origin is still assessing the damage, but CEO Dave Limp said they’ll be able to fly again “before the end of the year” — a very aggressive timeline as most experts have estimated it will take at least a year for the company to rebuild.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed last week that the space agency is looking at other ways to launch Blue Origin’s lunar lander to keep the moon campaign on track.

“We are decoupling the lander from the launch vehicle and the pad itself,” Isaacman told FOX. “We’re going to be able to keep that lander in development, progressing, so it’s available for our test mission in 2027, which is Artemis III, and potentially available to meet our landing objectives in 2028.”

It’s conceivable that lawmakers would agree to give NASA more funds, given the history of bipartisan support for the agency. Congress handed NASA nearly $10 billion in last year’s mega-reconciliation package.

But NASA’s latest request has been met with some initial skepticism on the Hill.

“There will be lots of questions about whether the taxpayer should pay for Blue’s redesign and lots of questions about whether a redesign could be completed before Blue’s return to flight. This event is only a few weeks old. There’s a lot more of this story to play out before Congress writes NASA a blank check,” one of the congressional staffers said.