51 U.S.C. § 20306 (NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS)
§ 20306. Special appropriations for Mars missions, Artemis missions, and Moon to Mars program
(a) In General.—
In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Administration for fiscal year 2025, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $9,995,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2032, to use as follows:
(1) $700,000,000, to be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026, for the procurement, using a competitively bid, firm fixed-price contract with a United States commercial provider (as defined in section 50101(7)), of a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter—
(A) that—
(i) is capable of providing robust, continuous communications for—
(I) a Mars sample return mission, as described in section 432(3)(C) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2017 (51 U.S.C. 20302 note; Public Law 115–10); and
(II) future Mars surface, orbital, and human exploration missions;
(ii) supports autonomous operations, onboard processing, and extended mission duration capabilities; and
(iii) is selected from among the commercial proposals that—
(I) received funding from the Administration in fiscal year 2024 or 2025 for commercial design studies for Mars Sample Return; and
(II) proposed a separate, independently launched Mars telecommunication orbiter supporting an end-to-end Mars sample return mission; and
(B) which shall be delivered to the Administration not later than December 31, 2028.
(2) $2,600,000,000 to meet the requirements of section 20302(a) using the program of record known, as of the date of the enactment of this section, as “Gateway”, and as described in section 10811(b)(2)(B)(iv) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2022 (51 U.S.C. 20302 note; Public Law 117–167), of which not less than $750,000,000 shall be obligated for each of fiscal years 2026, 2027, and 2028.
(3) $4,100,000,000 for expenses related to meeting the requirements of section 10812 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2022 (51 U.S.C. 20301; 1 Public Law 117–167) for the procurement, transportation, integration, operation, and other necessary expenses of the Space Launch System for Artemis Missions IV and V, of which not less than $1,025,000,000 shall be obligated for each of fiscal years 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029.
(4) $20,000,000 for expenses related to the continued procurement of the multi-purpose crew vehicle described in section 303 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 18323), known as the “Orion”, for use with the Space Launch System on the Artemis IV Mission and reuse in subsequent Artemis Missions, of which not less than $20,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026.
(5) $1,250,000,000 for expenses related to the operation of the International Space Station and for the purpose of meeting the requirement under section 503(a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 18353(a)), of which not less than $250,000,000 shall be obligated for such expenses for each of fiscal years 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029.
(6) $1,000,000,000 for infrastructure improvements at the manned spaceflight centers of the Administration, of which not less than—
(A) $120,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026 for construction, revitalization, recapitalization, or other infrastructure projects and improvements at the center described in Executive Order 12641 (53 Fed. Reg. 18816; relating to designating certain facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the State of Mississippi as the John C. Stennis Space Center);
(B) $250,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026 for construction, revitalization, recapitalization, or other infrastructure projects and improvements at the center described in Executive Order 11129 (28 Fed. Reg. 12787; relating to designating certain facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and of the Department of Defense, in the State of Florida, as the John F. Kennedy Space Center);
(C) $300,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026 for construction, revitalization, recapitalization, or other infrastructure projects and improvements at the center described in the Joint Resolution entitled “Joint Resolution to designate the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, as the ‘Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center’ in honor of the late President”, approved February 17, 1973 (Public Law 93–8; 87 Stat. 7);
(D) $100,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026 for construction, revitalization, recapitalization, or other infrastructure projects and improvements at the center described in Executive Order 10870 (25 Fed. Reg. 2197; relating to designating the facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Huntsville, Alabama, as the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center);
(E) $30,000,000 shall be obligated not later than fiscal year 2026 for construction, revitalization, recapitalization, or other infrastructure projects and improvements at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana; and
(F) $85,000,000 shall be obligated to carry out subsection (b), of which not less than $5,000,000 shall be obligated for the transportation of the space vehicle described in that subsection, with the remainder transferred not later than the date that is 18 months after the date of the enactment of this section to the entity designated under that subsection, for the purpose of construction of a facility to house the space vehicle referred to in that subsection.
(7) $325,000,000 to fulfill contract number 80JSC024CA002 issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on June 26, 2024.
(b) Space Vehicle Transfer.—
(1) In general.—
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Administrator shall identify a space vehicle described in paragraph (2) to be—
(A) transferred to a field center of the Administration that is involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew Program (as described in section 302 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2017 (51 U.S.C. 50111 note; Public Law 115–10)); and
(B) placed on public exhibition at an entity within the Metropolitan Statistical Area where such center is located.
(2) Space vehicle described.—
A space vehicle described in this paragraph is a vessel that—
(A) has flown into space;
(B) has carried astronauts; and
(C) is selected with the concurrence of an entity designated by the Administrator.
(3) Transfer.—
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this section, the space vehicle identified under paragraph (1) shall be transferred to an entity designated by the Administrator.
(c) Obligation of Funds.—
Funds appropriated under subsection (a) shall be obligated as follows:
(1) Not less than 50 percent of the total funds in subsection (a) shall be obligated not later than September 30, 2028.
(2) 100 percent of funds shall be obligated not later than September 30, 2029.
(3) All associated outlays shall occur not later than September 30, 2034.
(Added Pub. L. 119–21, title IV, § 40005(a), July 4, 2025, 139 Stat. 133.)
heading: Editorial Notes
heading: References in Text
text: The date of the enactment of this section, referred to in subsecs. (a)(2), (6)(F) and (b)(1), (3), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 119–21, which was approved July 4, 2025.