Ledyard King

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – NASA would get $19 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 under the proposed budget that President Obama sent to Congress on Tuesday.

That represents a slight decrease from the overall $19.3 billion NASA received in the current fiscal year. The decrease is partly due to Obama's proposal to cut $840 million - or 20% - from deep-space exploration programs and $100 million from planetary science while increasing funding for Earth science by more than $110 million.

Those ideas drew heated criticism from a top Republican and climate change skeptic.

"This imbalanced proposal continues to tie our astronauts’ feet to the ground and makes a Mars mission all but impossible," Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said in a statement issued by the committee. "This is not the proposal of an administration that is serious about maintaining America’s leadership in space.”

Obama's last budget proposal would spend $4.1 trillion

Obama's budget, the last one he will submit before he leaves office in January, includes funding for the space agency’s top priorities at levels NASA officials said Tuesday allows them to meet their goals despite proposed reductions in some areas, notably the Space Launch System and the Orion vehicle that will carry astronauts to Mars.

Agency officials said budget flexibility and earlier funding means the proposed cut wouldn't slow planned work on the Space Launch System or delay either of the two Orion test flights scheduled for 2018 and 2023.

Budget deal fully funds NASA's Commercial Crew Program

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., told employees gathered at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., Tuesday the budget allows for "great progress" on meeting the goal of getting to Mars by the 2030s.

That progress can be tracked through tests on various aspects of the mission, including testing of structural integrity, heat shields, engine performance and cabin pressure controls, he said. Some tests have yet to be conducted.

"At the same time, we'll continue to work with partners both in and out of government to develop the technologies that drive exploration, create jobs, and continue to make launches more affordable," Bolden said.

NASA also wants $90 million next year to continue development of an expandable space habitat that could provide astronauts a place to live on long-duration space missions, chiefly a trip to Mars. It could take as long as eight months just to reach the planet.

Ground testing of such a system could start as early as 2018, according to NASA.

Congressional Republicans pan NASA asteroid mission

Obama's overall $4.1 trillion budget proposal combines ambitious election-year proposals unlikely to be passed by a Republican Congress with more achievable proposals for cancer research, drug treatment and cybersecurity.

"This budget is not about looking back at the road we have traveled," Obama said in an accompanying message to Congress. "It is about looking forward. It is about making sure our economy works for everybody, not just those at the top. The budget is a roadmap to a future that embodies America’s values and aspirations: a future of opportunity and security for all of our families; a rising standard of living; and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids."

That vision would come at a cost. Budget deficits will grow to 2.8% of the economy, with a cumulative effect of increasing the national debt from $19 trillion to $27.4 trillion over the next decade, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Regarding the president's proposals for NASA, GOP lawmakers will have much to say about how much the agency gets and where it can spend its money.

Key GOP lawmakers, for example, oppose the president’s proposal to prepare for a Mars mission by pulling all or part of an asteroid into orbit around the moon and landing astronauts on it. Obama's fiscal 2017 budget request includes $67.7 million for a mission that could take place around 2025.

The Republican lawmakers would rather use the lunar surface itself to prepare for a mission to the Red Planet.

House approves $18.5 billion for NASA

More details are expected Tuesday afternoon, but initial numbers released by NASA show the president’s budget includes:

– $5.6 billion for science. That includes $2 billion for Earth science projects to measure the effects of climate change, $1.5 billion for planetary science -- including a Mars rover set to launch in 2020 -- and $569 million for the James Webb Space Telescope, which will replace the Hubble Telescope.

– $3.3 billion for deep-space exploration programs such as the Mars mission.

- $5.1 billion for space operations, including $1.4 billion for upkeep of the International Space Station and new research conducted there, and $1.2 billion for the Commercial Crew program to replace the space shuttle.

The president also proposes continuing to pay Russia to provide transportation to the space station at about $80 million a seat until NASA, working with private aerospace companies, develops rockets to send astronauts to the orbiting lab from the U.S.

– $827 million for space technology to continue teaming with the private sector on advances useful to NASA missions. That includes developing on-orbit robotic satellite servicing, high-bandwidth deep space communication, and more efficient in-space propulsion systems.

– $790 million for aeronautics research, including money to support research and development of a “revolutionary low carbon emission aircraft, including associated transportation systems, as part of a multi-agency effort to enable a 21st century clean transportation system.”

– $100 million for education and outreach efforts.

– $3.3 billion for safety, security and other logistical services.

Contributing: Gregory Korte

Twitter: @ledgeking