WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that he helped secure key priorities for NASA in a Senate spending package. The package consisted of four bills which passed the Senate today. The House has already passed its own version of these bills. The differences between the two bills will need to be reconciled before a final spending bill goes to the President for his signature.

The provisions secured include:

  • $1.4 billion for NASA’s Orion project. An Orion module will be tested at Plum Brook in Sandusky next month.
  • $22.75 billion for NASA, including $784 million for aeronautics research. A portion of that funding will go to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

“NASA Glenn in Cleveland and Sandusky are perfect examples of Ohio’s innovative strength in aeronautics, space technology and the sciences,” said Brown. “These projects will provide our scientists the resources needed to advance space travel and scientific research.” 

In August, Brown visited NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and toured the Small Multipurpose Research Facility in which NASA employees are conducting research on cryogenic fluid for NASA’s Artemis Program. Artemis is NASA’s effort to return American astronauts to the moon by 2024.

In September, Brown, along with Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), formally introduced legislation to rename NASA’s Plum Brook Station, the agency’s test facility in Sandusky, Ohio, after Neil Armstrong. Portman and Brown announced their intention to rename the facility in July, in advance of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Plum Brook is part of the NASA Glenn Research Center. It houses unique world-class facilities that conduct critical and innovative ground tests for the international aerospace community. Brown visited Plum Brook Station in 2017 to tour the facility and learn about state-of-the-art testing done at the facility.

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