President Donald Trump has proposed the single largest year-over-year cut to NASA's budget in his 2026 budget proposal, essentially terminating many of the space agency's most promising missions.

If signed into law as written, the White House's proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA's budget would have some dire consequences. It would cut the agency's budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space.