The NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026 provides $24.4 billion in funding for NASA's operations and programs for fiscal year 2026. The bill focuses on three major priorities: continuing the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon and eventually reach Mars, developing new spacesuits and lunar landing systems with commercial partners, and planning for the eventual retirement of the International Space Station while ensuring continued scientific research in low-Earth orbit.

The legislation authorizes NASA to work with private companies to develop human-rated lunar landers, advanced spacesuits, and eventually a deorbiting vehicle to safely bring down the aging International Space Station by the end of 2031. It emphasizes maintaining American leadership in space exploration by leveraging both government expertise and commercial capabilities. The bill requires NASA to maintain the Johnson Space Center's core competency in spacesuit design and to obtain lunar landing capabilities from at least two different U.S. commercial providers to ensure redundancy and competition.

The act also addresses the transition from the International Space Station to future commercial space platforms. It requires NASA to develop a strategy for maintaining robust research capabilities in low-Earth orbit after the ISS is deorbited, and it allows commercial companies to conduct private human missions on the ISS to help develop the commercial space industry. Multiple reporting requirements ensure Congress receives detailed updates on progress toward these goals, including assessments of costs, schedules, and any technical challenges that arise.