President Trump’s New Space Bill and Its Implications
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has allocated additional billions for budget and schedule launch vehicles, while cutting funding for other space programs.
The act directs nearly $10 billion towards the Boeing Space Launch System (SLS) and related endeavors. The SLS, which faced delays from 2016 to 2022, is projected to exceed its budget by over $6 billion, with launches anticipated in the coming years, according to a NASA report from 2023.
Experts view the SLS as a way to sustain aerospace jobs in states like Florida, Texas, and Alabama. Despite substantial government funding, the SLS program seems to be falling behind private competitors like SpaceX in terms of costs and efficiency, leading to concerns about the return on taxpayer investment.
As one official remarked, “The idea was to phase out the Space Shuttle, use the savings, and develop something new.” They added that some components of the SLS are, in fact, old shuttle hardware, creating a somewhat haphazard approach to rocket design.
Initially conceived in 2014, the SLS was meant to establish a permanent U.S. presence on the Moon, as indicated by its nickname, “Shellby Launch System,” named after former Senator Richard Shelby, who played a key role in the project.
The OBBBA also earmarks $4.1 billion for upcoming Artemis IV and V missions and another $20 million for the Orion Capsule System, which will work alongside the SLS. Artemis IV aims to establish a lunar base for American astronauts, with a scheduled launch in September 2028, followed by Artemis V in March 2030.
So far, the SLS program has cost taxpayers $23.8 billion, while sustaining high expenses with the Orion Capsule at $20.4 billion, according to the Planetary Society.
“Everyone in the industry will agree that this rocket is quite expensive, and perhaps not a good deal for taxpayers,” an official noted.
The Artemis II mission, designed to land astronauts on the Moon next, has been postponed from September 2025 to April 2026, while Artemis III’s launch has slipped to 2027.
An August 2024 audit of the SLS found that Boeing faced significant staffing issues, lacking adequately trained aerospace workers. Quality control problems had also arisen with Boeing’s 737 aircraft.
In addition to increasing SLS funding, the White House Budget Management Office (OMB) has pushed for a nearly 25% cut in NASA’s budget, which includes halting over 40 unmanned science missions in its 2026 plan.
Alternative options for heavy-lift capabilities being discussed include SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which, unlike the SLS, are reusable and less reliant on government funds.
Some critics argue that the current strategy of pouring funds into SLS, instead of cutting the program, is inefficient and limits the potential for scientific endeavors. A piece in City Journal emphasized that retiring SLS could save billions, allowing for the continuation of important space exploration missions.
NASA has stated that they proposed to the White House to end the SLS program after Artemis III in 2027, seeking to shift toward commercial solutions for Lunar missions.
A NASA spokesperson acknowledged awareness of the provisions in the OBBBA and reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to effectively utilize all allocated funds in alignment with the President’s vision for the future of space exploration.
Boeing has not commented on these developments.
