But Still Falls Short Of Agency's Request For Commercial Crew Development

Funding for NASA's Commercial Crew program passed by a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee this week tops the amount approved by the House appropriations committee ... but still falls short of NASA's request for the program.

The Senate panel approved $805 million for the Commercial Crew program that will replace the agency's shuttle with privately-built spacecraft. That's more than the $785 million approved by the House Appropriation panel. But NASA had requested $848 for the program in fiscal 2015 in order to keep the program on track for a manned launch to ISS in 2017.

USA Today reports that the overall bills passed by the two bodies are similar. Both fund NASA to the tune of about $17.9 billion. But the Senate version contains more money for exploration, which would include the asteroid mission that House leaders have opposed.

Still, $17.9 billion is a $250 million increase over the FY 2014 budget for NASA. Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said the panel was "very disappointed in the President's request." She said that the subcommittee's leadership "worked on a bipartisan basis and made sure that we maintain the balanced space program, human space flight, science and discovery and, at the same time, promote aeronautics."

FMI: www.appropriations.senate.gov