For 2022, the Omnibus Spending Bill includes $24 billion for NASA

The Omnibus bill contains $1.195 billion for NASA’s Human Landing System program (HLS), which will develop a lunar lander version of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle for Artemis 3 and future missions. This is the NASA funding request, though the Senate offered $100 million more and House $150 million respectively in their respective bills.

The Senate version of the Senate report did not require NASA to choose a second HLS provider. 

It directs NASA not to submit a report within 30 calendar days of the enactment, “explaining how it will assure safety, redundancy and competition in HLS programs within the resources available under this Act and included within the fiscal year 2023 budget request.”

The bill provides $101.1 million in full funding for NASA’s low-Earth orbit commercial development effort. The Senate bill provided the same amount of funding, while the House version provided less. This program supports commercial space stations that will succeed the International Space Station by end of the decade.

The report’s language restricts funding for several programs, including HLS and commercial LEO development, to 40% of the allocated levels, until NASA submits a multiyear plan to Congress for the Artemis Project. This plan must include the schedule for Space Launch System launches to build the Gateway, additional scientific activities, and “the beginning of partnerships with commercial entities to further LEO missions to land humans on the Moon.” However, the funding limit does not apply to Orion, Exploration Ground Systems, or the SLS programs.