Congress unveiled the 2016 budget Wednesday, and NASA is a big winner.
The space agency is set to receive $19.3 billion in funding next year. It’s about $1 billion more than NASA requested.
The agency received about $5 billion for science research, which includes funding for the James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA also received more than $1 billion to fund commercial crew efforts – the move to let private companies launch astronauts to the International Space Station.
It’s the first time Congress appropriated NASA’s full request, said Space Florida’s Dale Ketcham.
"This will enable us to that much sooner tell Vladimir Putin we’re done with his services in terms of getting our astronauts to the international space station,” said Ketcham.
Currently, NASA relies on Russian spacecraft to transport the crew. Private companies SpaceX and Boeing are developing capsules that will transport astronauts to the orbiting station.
