NASA
Summary
Established October 1, 1958 under the National Aeronautics and Space Act, NASA ran on $24.838 billion of FY2025 discretionary appropriations and 17,438 civil service employees -- about $72.67 per U.S. resident -- to build Artemis, launch a telescope surveying 450 million galaxies, and close out the first U.S. asteroid-sample return.
The organization
Its mission
The charge is statutory: Section 102 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act declares it U.S. policy "that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind"⧉, and assigns those activities to "a civilian agency"⧉ -- weapons and defense work stays, by the same section, with the Department of Defense.
Founded when, and why
Congress passed the Act as Public Law 85-568, approved July 29, 1958⧉, "to provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the earth's atmosphere"; the agency opened October 1, 1958, absorbing the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the aviation-research body it replaced.
What it costs — money and people
Congress appropriated $24.838 billion of discretionary funding for FY2025 (a further $9.995 billion of mandatory special appropriations was enacted, 94 percent of it unavailable until future fiscal years), and the year's audited net cost of operations came to $23,699 million on 17,438 civil service employees. Against the Census Bureau's 341.8 million Vintage 2025 population estimate⧉, the discretionary appropriation works out to $72.67 per U.S. resident.
View data as table
| Explore (Moon and Mars) | 10,480 |
|---|---|
| Discover (science) | 7,469 |
| Advance (capabilities and facilities) | 3,414 |
| Innovate (technology and aeronautics) | 2,336 |
What it produces
The output flies. In FY2025 the agency's own report logs SPHEREx, a space telescope surveying the near-infrared spectra of approximately 450 million galaxies; NISAR, a radar-imaging satellite built with India's space agency, launched July 30, 2025; and two missions closed out with success criteria met -- Parker Solar Probe and OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth.
Value to society, by the numbers
The mechanism is spending that lands on Earth: contracts, wages, and technology in every state. 's own FY2023 economic-impact analysis -- an investment of less than one-half of 1% of the federal budget⧉ -- counts more than $75.6 billion of economic output⧉, an estimated 304,803 jobs supported⧉, and more than $9.5 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues⧉; Moon-to-Mars alone generated $23.8 billion of output and 96,479 jobs⧉.
- 's headline FY2025 cost is the $24.838B discretionary appropriation on 17,438 civil service employees -- $72.67 per U.S. resident, with the year's audited net cost of operations ($23,699M, or $69.34/resident) running just under it. The $35.6 billion total sometimes quoted for FY2025 adds $9.995B of mandatory special appropriations (94% unobligable until future fiscal years) plus smaller disaster-relief and spectrum supplementals.
- The value figures ($75.6B output, 304,803 jobs, $9.5B tax revenue) are 's own commissioned economic modeling for FY2023 -- a different fiscal year than the FY2025 budget figures above, and modeled estimates rather than audited actuals, so the two shouldn't be divided into a precise return-per-dollar.
Your handles.* Ask a question or reach any program office through Contact NASA. Request agency records under NASA's FOIA process. Report fraud, waste, or abuse in programs to the NASA Office of Inspector General hotline.
Sources(4) ▾
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA FY 2025 Agency Financial Report (2025-11) — 's own audited Agency Financial Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 -- the primary source for this entry's appropriations ($24.838B discretionary of $35.6B total appropriated), civil-service workforce (17,438 employees by center), net cost of operations ($23,699M by theme), founding (Note 1: established October 1, 1958, from NACA), and FY2025 mission outputs (SPHEREx, NISAR, OSIRIS-REx, Parker Solar Probe). nasa.gov · original document
- U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo.gov, Statutes at Large), National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-568, 72 Stat. 426) (1958-07-29) — The authorizing statute itself, from the Statutes at Large as published by GPO: the Act's title (the problem it was passed to solve), the Section 102(a) declaration of policy (space activities devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind), and the Section 102(b) civilian-agency requirement. Approved July 29, 1958. govinfo.gov · original document
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA Economic Impact Report (FY 2023), October 2024 (2024-10) — 's own most recent agencywide economic impact study (FY2023 activity, published October 2024): total economic output, jobs supported, and tax revenues generated, plus the Moon-to-Mars campaign breakout. These are modeled input-output estimates commissioned by the agency, not audited financials -- graded accordingly and labeled as 's own analysis in the entry. nasa.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimates) (2026-01-27) — Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate (341.8 million as of July 1, 2025) -- the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI. census.gov · original document
Comments
Always open. Logged-in readers can annotate paragraphs in place.
-- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- is the principal agency of the U.S. government for initiatives in civil space and aviation: an independent agency organized into five mission directorates, run from a Washington headquarters and field centers led by Johnson, Goddard, Marshall, and Kennedy.