AirSpaceMag.com

Those who say NASA is giving up on human space exploration may want to take a look at the details the agency just released about where its budgeted money is going over the next several years. The table on page EXP-3 of this document shows more than $15 billion over the next five years allocated for exploration technologies, much of it geared toward human space flight. Over and above that, there is $5.8 billion slated for “Commercial Crew” space flight. Whereas the canceled Constellation program had allocated only $151 million a year for researching human adaptation to space, the new budget puts $215 million into that program for each of the next five years.

And pages EXP-5 through EXP-8 of this document spell out NASA’s broad array of research programs, many of them geared toward human survival in space.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden testifies before Congress last summer during his confirmation. It has become a familiar seat for him—he'll be there tomorrow and the next day to discuss NASA's new budget.

Tomorrow NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will testify before the Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee on the details of NASA’s $19 billion budget request. The following day he’ll be before the House Science and Technology Committee.