NASA’s Stennis, Michoud facilities to see $150 million in new government spending

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Despite proposals from President Donald Trump to cut NASA’s budget and scale back upcoming exploration missions, millions of new federal dollars will go to the space agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss.

Josh Tatum, vice president of retention & growth with Greater New Orleans Inc., touts the new federal allocations as massive wins for the region.

“It’s a win for the nation to continue space exploration, and it all starts right here,” Tatum said. “We have such a strong workforce here. Seeing what’s being done at Michoud and Stennis, and the excitement of this bill with retaining those jobs, people are ready to work.”

The funds are part of $9.995 billion in allocations granted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the massive tax and spending package signed into law by President Trump on July 4.

The Michoud Assembly Facility will get $30 million and the Stennis Space Center will get $120 million. NASA says its still in the process of verifying funds and determining how they will be used. But the new law says the allocations are to go toward “construction, revitalization, recapitalization or other infrastructure projects and improvements.”

The federal dollars come after President Trump originally proposed massive budget cuts to NASA and scaling back the Artemis missions, which are planned to return mankind to the moon.

After the president’s comments, advocacy groups such as Partners for Stennis and Michoud began lobbying hard in support of NASA.

“We spent a week walking the halls of Congress, speaking to senators and representatives,” group chairman Mark Glorioso said.

Glorioso says he and others persuaded lawmakers to consider the benefits of keeping both facilities funded and operational, such as renting space at Michoud and Stennis for private space exploration companies to build and test their rockets and spacecraft.

“We can utilize all of those billions of dollars in government assets to test,” Glorioso said.

He also said allocating funding instead of slashing it will keep the American space program competitive with those of other countries.

“With China and the Russians pushing hard to colonize the moon and possibly Mars, we think it’s imprudent for the United States to fall behind,” he said.

The billions in NASA funding ensures that missions to the moon will be funded through Artemis VI, which calls for the first lunar space station -- Gateway -- to launch and be operational for annual moon missions.

Tatum says those missions give job security to the 1,800 people who build rockets at Michoud and the 5,000 who test rockets at Stennis.

“It’s a great opportunity to use these funds that our congressional delegation fought for to really to be able to support future jobs and retain those jobs that are out there right now,” he said.

Advocates also say the funds will continue inspiring future engineers and scientists looking to make their mark among the stars.

“The beauty of what you are seeing here are the lives that this rocket will touch ... not just the workers that are there today but also the generations that are in high school right now or in college,” Tatum said.

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