NASA has thrown a lifeline to scientists working on a mission to visit an asteroid that will make an unusually close flyby of the Earth in 2029, reversing the Trump administration's previous plan to shut it down.
This mission, named OSIRIS-APEX, was one of 19 operating NASA science missions the White House proposed canceling in a budget blueprint released earlier this year.
"We were called for cancellation as part to the president's budget request, and we were reinstated and given a plan to move ahead in FY26 (Fiscal Year 2026) just two weeks ago," said Dani DellaGiustina, principal investigator for OSIRIS-APEX at the University of Arizona. "Our spacecraft appears happy and healthy."