Prime mission

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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Agency overview
FormedJuly 29, 1958; 66 years ago (1958-07-29)
Annual budget$18.724 billion (Fiscal Year 2011)[1]

The prime mission of a project is activities in the period of operation proposed by NASA when it was selected for funding.[2] The United States Congress passes a budget detailing where Federal tax money is to be spent in the upcoming year. The budget includes funding for NASA, sometimes with explicit instructions on how to allocate money to the project level, based on NASA's recommendations. The duration of a project may vastly exceed the prime mission, and money spent on a project during its lifetime may vastly exceed the original budget.

Prime mission costs do not include those donated by other countries, by organizations, or by individuals.

  1. ^ "Bill Summary of NASA Authorization Act of 2010". Archived from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  2. ^ Departments of Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2006, p. 81 [1]