On October 6, 2025, nearly three hundred advocates gathered on Capitol Hill for the Planetary Society’s (TPS) 2025 Day of Action. Diverse in backgrounds, ranging from scientific researchers to corporate executives, the attendees shared one purpose: to urge Congress to protect NASA from unprecedented budget cuts. The event took place during the federal government shutdown that stretched until November 12.
Bill Nye, CEO of TPS, opened the conference with a message about the stakes of the proposed funding reductions. “Cuts to NASA science will not make the US stronger; investing in it will,” Nye said.
Four months earlier, the White House Office of Management and Budget presented a forty-seven percent decrease in NASA’s funding. “These proposed cuts would force the premature termination of dozens of missions,” Nye said. Forty-one would be cancelled, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by May 2027 to study black holes and dark matter. If enacted, the plan would also end the Mars Sample Return mission, preventing the first retrieval of materials from another planet, and halt the course of OSIRIS-APEX, a spacecraft set to explore an asteroid passing Earth in 2029.
As the shutdown stretched to the longest in U.S. history, TPS prepared for the negotiations once the government reopens. In these ongoing negotiations, they have aimed to restore NASA’s budget to fiscal year 2024 levels, protecting both active and upcoming missions. Nye emphasized that investing in space exploration fuels innovation, spurs economic growth, and cements the United States’ spot as a global leader in science.