Trump’s budget cuts threaten NASA’s Wallops research

ACCOMACK COUNTY, Va. — Several scientific and research efforts tied to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore are at risk, following President Trump’s new budget proposal aiming to cut roughly a quarter of the agency’s funding. 

Wallops Island, Virginia’s lone NASA flight facility, is a regional pillar and dubbed “Virginia’s Proven Portal to Air and Space.”

The budget framework for 2026 introduced by the Trump administration aims to cut roughly $6 billion from the federal agency, roughly 24% of its operations. It would bring the agency’s budget to a level not seen since 2015. 

Within the more than 400-page budget are several funding cuts to programs involving or based out of Wallops.

NASA’s “Scientific Balloon Program,” earmarked for $49 million dollars as recently as the 2024 fiscal year, has been cut entirely from the 2026 budget. The NASA website established the Balloon program is overseen out of Wallops Flight Facility. 

The agency’s Heliophysics department — relating to research around the study of the sun — will take massive cuts as well. 

This budget consolidates and reduces peer-reviewed science in the Guest Investigator project into a program element within Heliophysics R&A. This budget cancels the Wind mission; the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission is moved to the Space Weather program. Additionally, the budget reduces funding for Research Range and Sounding Rockets, assuming fewer payloads in the future. NASA will seek to initiate cost sharing of range maintenance with other partners.

Wallops Flight Facility is just one of NASA’s programs that supports this research:

The Research Range project provides operations support, maintenance, and engineering for the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) launch range in support of suborbital, orbital, and aircraft missions conducted on behalf of NASA and DoD. The project also supports NASA technology missions, autonomous aerial vehicle flights, and commercial launch and flight projects

More than $50 million earmarked just for the Research Range and Sounding Rockets initiative will be cut for 2026.

In addition, the Heliophysics Strategic Technology Office (HESTO) will be cut as well because of the new budget. According to its website, HESTO is hosted at Wallops Flight Facility.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said he does not support the proposed cuts.

“I strongly oppose the massive cuts President Trump is proposing to NASA that will impact the Wallops Flight Facility. Why would you hobble NASA programs unless you are trying to advantage Russian and Chinese space programs?” Kaine said to 13News Now. “These proposed cuts, if the House and Senate pass them, would destroy NASA as we know it, and have a devastating impact on the Eastern Shore community and economy. I will fight them tooth and nail.”