Marshall Space Flight Center expecting to get $4.4 Billion in NASA budget

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The Biden Administration sent NASA’s $26 billion budget to Congress on Monday. If passed by lawmakers, Marshall Space Flight Center would receive $4.4 billion.

“It is a a significant increase over last years budget. It’s the largest request for science in NASA history,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The announcement was made during the State of NASA Address. WAFF spoke to employees at Marshall, and they said most of the money will be used to sustain and continue to advance the Artemis mission. Apollo is passing the torch to Artemis.

“We’re going back to the moon as Artemis,” Nelson said. “We’re going to learn to live and work in a hostile environment and then it’s onto Mars in the late 2030′s.”

The rocket is 322 feet tall. Shorter than the Mighty Saturn V, but beefier.

A lot of the main elements to the rocket were built in Huntsville. WAFF was in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center when it was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time and transported to the launch pad.

The wet dress rehearsal, the last big test before launching around the Moon, is scheduled to start on Friday.

“In two years, then from Artemis 1, for the first time since Apollo 8, Artemis will fly astronauts around the moon,” Nelson said.

Another big part of NASA’s $26 billion budget involves the International Space Station.

“We have extended the commitment to the International Space Center operations through 2030, and this decision empowers NASA to continue conducting groundbreaking research and collaborating with our international partners,’ said Nelson.

Other items in the budget include new robots to search for life on other planets.

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