NSS Statement of Support for the below Op-Ed by Dr. Alan Stern:

Saving NASA’s Paid-For Missions

The National Space Society (NSS) strongly endorses the urgent call below by Dr. Alan Stern to preserve NASA’s fleet of already-paid-for, scientifically productive space missions. His op-ed highlights a looming crisis: the potential termination of over 50 active spacecraft—missions that represent decades of investment, discovery, and global leadership in space science.

Prematurely shutting down these missions would squander billions in taxpayer funding, undermine American leadership in planetary exploration and astrophysics, and cede ground to international competitors. These spacecraft—including New Horizons, Juno, the Mars rovers, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—are not relics of the past; they are vibrant engines of discovery still delivering groundbreaking data.

Dr. Stern’s message resonates deeply with NSS policy: we oppose the abandonment of functioning space assets that continue to yield scientific, educational, and diplomatic value. Fiscal responsibility demands we maximize the return on these investments—not discard them for marginal budgetary gains.

We urge all space advocates to amplify this message. Please share the op-ed with others, follow Dr. Stern’s requests to contact political leaders, AND visit the NSS Advocacy Action Center (https://nss.org/space-advocacy-center/#/3) to take direct action to contact your own representatives in Washington D.C. Let’s ensure America remains at the forefront of space exploration—not by sacrificing our successes, but by building on them.

Grant Henriksen
Policy Committee Chair, National Space Society

Guest Op-Ed by Dr. Alan Stern

NASA is at the very heart of America’s self-image and our nation’s stature across the world.

Today America’s space efforts are second to none; in fact, they are literally the envy of the world. Yet, if nothing is done by President Trump or the Congress, 2026 budget legislation will force NASA to summarily execute over 50 working space missions, bought and paid for by the American taxpayer. This is all set to happen this year.

Those 50+ missions on the chopping block cost tens of billions of dollars to design, build, and launch. Throwing away such large taxpayer investments is fiscal irresponsibility at its worst. And just as bad, it’ll unilaterally cede first place in planetary exploration, astrophysics, and other areas of space exploration to Europe and the Chinese, voluntarily submerging the US to third or fourth place in all these areas. These already-active space missions include New Horizons—exploring the very farthest reaches of our solar system in history, Juno exploring Jupiter and its moons, the Mars rovers, virtually every astronomical telescope NASA has in space other than Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope, the Lunar reconnaissance orbiter—NASA’s only operating lunar mapping mission, as well as healthy and productive spacecraft studying the Sun, the Earth, and more.

To prevent this, we must tell the President and Congress not to allow it.

President Trump has often placed American leadership in space high on his priority list, and I for one am deeply appreciative of that. I also endorse our getting astronauts back to the Moon as critical to American space leadership, as the President and Congress have rightfully endorsed. But so is keeping the lead we have in other kinds of space exploration.

Yet that leadership is now in a danger of our own doing. Sure, cancelling dozens of working space missions could yield funding that could be put into accelerating human lunar exploration, but only a tiny amount—about 5 percent of NASA’s budget. Reigning in the cost over runs on NASA programs now in development will save many times that, without harming either American stature, or NASA’s worldwide, powerful, soft power projection the way the planned mission cancellations will. Those cost overruns are where the real gold is to accelerate human lunar exploration and to stay in front of the Chinese.

Please make your voices heard, this week and this month, before it’s too late. Write the President. Write the Senators and Congresspeople who decide NASA’s budget. Here are the politicians making these decisions to whom you should write, tag on social media, and otherwise let your voices be heard. Click their name to view their official contact information.

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Senate NASA appropriations leadership:

Chair: Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Ranking Member: Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

House NASA appropriations leadership: 

House Appropriations Committee. This committee is responsible for the overall NASA budget.
Chair: Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)

Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair: Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
Ranking Member of Full Committee: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. This committee oversees the scientific and technological programs of NASA and other agencies.
Chair: Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX)
Ranking Member: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Ranking Member: Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)

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Tell them to keep NASA’s fleet alive, and by doing so to keep America in first place in space.

Your action on this really matters, because once these space missions are turned off this fall and winter, their radio receivers will be forever disabled, and they can never be resuscitated.

The space suicide countdown is upon us, right now. Raise your voice against it. Tell them the savings to be had from it are tiny, misguided, irresponsible, and financially upside down. Fiscal responsibility, patriotism, and America’s stature in space all hang in the balance of our actions these next critical weeks in September.

President Trump has made it clear he supports space exploration. Write him directly or alert him on social media with the message that these cuts risk allowing China to surpass America in space, so if we want to Make America Great Again, stopping the termination of these existing space missions is a must to keep the USA #1 in space rather than unilaterally ceding the field to other nations.

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You can write the President at:

The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Or to reach out more quickly, send him an email at this White House web page: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

And you can call this number at the White House to leave citizen comments: 202-456-1111.

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This op-ed originally appeared on Skeptic.com on September 6.

Dr. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist, adventurer, and author. Alan led NASA’s New Horizons mission to the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt. As NASA chief for all space and Earth science programs, he directed a $4.4 billion organization with 93 separate flight missions and a program of over 3,000 research grants. During his NASA tenure, a record 10 major new flight projects were started. Alan’s adventurous spirit led him to successfully launch into space on a suborbital flight through Virgin Galactic and travel to the farthest depths of the ocean to visit the Titanic. He has twice been named to Time Magazine’s annual list of the “100 Most Influential People.” Alan will be a speaker at the 2026 NSS International Space Development Conference.