The US Congress has approved the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funding requests for Fiscal Year 2016, including continued funding for the International Space Station, according to an omnibus spending bill just released, Sputnik reported.
The Obama administration had requested $18.5 billion to finance NASA’s activities through the current fiscal year.
However, the omnibus spending bill, released by the US House of Representatives and the Senate on Wednesday raised the funding to $19.2 billion - an increase of $756 million.
The Obama administration requested $3.1 billion within the NASA budget to fund US commitments to the International Space Station and this was only slightly reduced to $3.075 billion by the House and $3.051 billion by the Senate.
Congress also enthusiastically supported the Space Launch System - a proposed new heavy-lift launch vehicle - which received $2 billion in funding, nearly 50 percent more than the Obama administration’s request of $1.36 billion, Space News noted.
The spending bill still has to be approved and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
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