The story of NASA's 2015 budget had a happy ending on December 16th, 2014, when President Barack Obama signed a massive omnibus spending bill into law. The $18.01 billion budget (which is $346 million above last year) provides the space agency with its best funding year since 2011. The Planetary Science Division will get $1.44 billion, nearly $93 million above last year, and just shy of The Planetary Society's recommended $1.5 billion.

Before I get into the details of the increases to planetary science, I want to thank the incredible amount of work done by Planetary Society members and space advocates around the world. Together, we sent tens of thousands of letters to the House, Senate, and the White House, and made hundreds of phone calls and dozens of visits to Congress. Importantly, the increase to planetary didn't require cuts from any other NASA science program. So take a moment and pat yourself on the back.

Ok, now let's look at the fruits of our efforts.

NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) gets $1.438 billion in the 2015 appropriations bill, about $157 million more than requested by the White House, and $93 million more than it received last year. This increase is spread throughout several major programs within the PSD. There are many good things in this budget, which reflects the most important recommendation from the National Research Council's Planetary Decadal Survey: that we must maintain a balanced program. This budget does that.

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