TWiS 207: What, This Again? - Attempted Cuts to the NASA Budget

About this episode

The episode discusses the proposed budget cuts to NASA and features an interview with Jenniter Vaughn from The Planetary Society.

As you have doubtless heard, the White House has once again proposed drastic budget cuts of about 24% for NASA's 2027 budget. It's deja vu all over again for us, as we followed an almost identical story last year. And as with last year, Congress has signaled the new budget to be DOA. This time, however, we had a NASA administrator in the seat when this budget arrived and he said he could work with it—despite a near halving of the NASA science budget and proposed cancellation of well over 50 science missions, many already successful and returning great science after the bulk of the program has been paid for. We invited Jenniter Vaughn, the CEO of The Planetary Society, onto the show to discuss. Headlines: Blue Origin's New Glenn 3 Rocket Fails Key Mission Despite Successful Landin Discovery of Possible Hidden Moons Around Uranus in Planetary Rings Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates Its 36th Year in Orbit Main Topic: NASA Science Budget Crisis and Advocacy with Planetary Society CEO Jennifer Vaughn Jennifer Vaughn's Journey to Leading the Planetary Society Deep Cuts Proposed for NASA's Science Budget and Widespread Opposition Congressional Pushback and Ineffectiveness of Copy-Paste…

People in this episode

Guest: Jenniter Vaughn

Topics covered

• NASA budget cuts
• science missions
• public advocacy
• space exploration
• Congressional response
• Planetary Society

Keywords

• NASA budget
• science funding
• space missions
• public advocacy
• Congress
• Planetary Society
• Blue Origin
• Hubble Space Telescope

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, The Planetary Society, Blue Origin, Hubble Space Telescope

Places: Uranus

More episodes of This Week in Space (Audio)

• TWiS 213: Live From ISDC With Gerry Griffin - NASA Flight Director Breaks Down the Realities of Spaceflight · June 5, 2026 · 1h 23m
• TWiS 212: Kabooms, Starship, and a Moon Base - What New Glenn's Explosion Means for NASA's Moon Base · May 29, 2026 · 1h 3m
• TWiS 211: Oysters in Space - With Jacob Scoccimerra of Monolith Space · May 22, 2026 · 1h 9m
• TWiS 210: ESCAPADES at Mars - Dr. Robert Lillis of the Mars ESCAPADE Mission · May 15, 2026 · 57 min
• TWiS 209: Astronauts for America - The Best of the Best Speak Out · May 8, 2026 · 1h 10m
• TWiS 208: Lander, Lander, Who's Got a Lander - Will SpaceX or Blue Origin Touch Down First? · May 1, 2026 · 1h 6m