I will play the devil's advocate here.
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View attachment 782485
What are the cuts actually directed at? Ambitious projects like reactors on the moon and going to Mars makes it seem NASA has the necessary funding to try to make those things happen.
If they are still creating and launching new satellites, creating and launching new rovers to distant moons or planets, spending money on spacecrafts, launching astronauts, working on nuclear propulsion wouldn't that be considered necessary spending?
A google search is telling me China spent 20 billion dollars on space and the US spent like 79.7 billion dollars on space. Having 1/4th the budget didn't stop China from landing a rover on the far side of the moon. 3.96 billion dollars on space spending didn't stop Russia from their nuclear space tug project, a joint nuclear reactor on moon agreement with China, working on new class rocket designs, working on getting a blimp, lander and an orbiter going in Venus, ROSS space station and launching satellites and astronauts.