### NASA Faces Major Budget Cuts and Program Overhauls Under New Proposal

NASA is set to undergo significant changes as the Trump administration's new budget proposal outlines drastic cuts and a shift in focus. The budget, recently made public by the Office of Management and Budget, calls for a 31% reduction in NASA's workforce, reducing its personnel to just under 12,000. The proposed budget also aims to phase out the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule, projects centrally managed from Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center.

The proposal indicates a shift towards the private space industry, allocating $350 million for technologies to support manned missions to Mars. This move is part of a broader strategy to stimulate innovation and cost-effectiveness through competitive commercial contracts. The $18.8 billion funding request for NASA represents a 24.3% decrease from the previous year's budget, equating to a $6 billion cut, the largest single-year reduction in the agency's history.

The cuts will primarily affect science programs, eliminating 41 missions including the New Horizons Pluto probe and the Juno Jupiter orbiter. The $100 billion Artemis program, central to NASA's lunar exploration efforts, will be directly impacted by the elimination of SLS and Orion. President Trump's budget supports Artemis missions II and III but suggests commercial transport services for subsequent missions.

Marshall Space Flight Center, which plays a pivotal role in managing the SLS, faces uncertainty. The center is a major employer in Huntsville, with nearly 7,000 federal workers and contractors, and oversees a multibillion-dollar budget. Local aerospace contractors such as Dynetics, Aerojet Rocketdyne, United Launch Alliance, and Teledyne Brown Engineering are heavily involved in the SLS development and operation.

The economic implications of these changes are significant, especially for Alabama. A 2024 study highlighted that NASA’s Artemis-related projects in the state generated $5.1 billion in economic impact, largely due to the contributions of Marshall Space Flight Center.

As the Trump administration aims to pivot NASA's focus, questions remain about the future of U.S. lunar missions post-Artemis III. Commercial spacecraft from companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are expected to play major roles but have yet to match the capabilities of the SLS and Orion systems. SpaceX’s Starship has seen a mixed record of success, while Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is still early in its testing phase.

The potential phasing out of key NASA programs marks a significant moment in the agency's history, prompting a reevaluation of how the U.S. will pursue human space exploration in the coming decade.