NASA said U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed US$18.5 billion request for the space agency will keep its current projects and missions on track.

This budget is pivotal to fully funding the agency's initiatives such as the Orion crew capsule; the Space Launch System and the Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope to be launched in 2018.

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According to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, this $500 million increase is a clear vote of confidence. This budget will be utilized for NASA's Commercial Crew Program where US$1.2 billion will enable a commercial spacecraft to transport crew members to the International Space Station.

Prior to this, NASA has been dependent on Russian spacecraft and technology after the Space Shuttle program ended in 2012.

NASA has granted contracts to private U.S. space companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to develop this new space shuttle. Bolden says developing lower Earth orbit transport via the private space sector is an important step to the voyage to Mars and beyond.

Another controversial project called the Asteroid Redirect Mission will also receive continued support under the president's new budget.

This mission will involve sending a small robotic probe to latch onto a small asteroid. The probe will drag the asteroid into a new orbit around the Moon so that it could be visited and studied by astronauts using one of the Orion capsules.

This asteroid mission, however, has often met with puzzling opposition from Republicans in Congress. This mission will be funded under NASA's Space Technology Research and Development budget that will be increased from US$370 million to US$491 million if the budget is approved by Congress.

The proposed budget will also go to future space missions such as the next Mars rover and a robotic space probe that will be sent to study Jupiter's moon, Europa, to explore its surface.

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