In a vote on party lines, Republicans in the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology gave approval to a budget authorization for NASA. The authorized ones would see the funding for the Orion and the Space Launch System continues, but they would slash the agency's budget for its Earth science division.

This vote has come after an earlier decision by the committee to cut the NSF's geosciences budget. It has followed the prominent attacks on NASA's Earth sciences work during a Senate hearing, all of which has pointed towards a concerted effort against the researchers who, among other things, have been telling all that climate change is a reality.

This budget approval will be covering the 2016 and 2017 budget, containing two scenarios on the basis of the degree to which the overall budget is constrained.

Analysis of the bill has shown that it would spend in line with the Obama administration's request but would be shifting money from basic sciences to human exploration.

Both the Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket would be receiving a boost of millions of dollars while the planetary sciences would also see a boost of around $150 million.

The additional spending on these divisions has been balanced by drastic cuts in the Earth sciences, down from $1.947 billion under Obama's proposal to $1.45 billion under the committee budget.

If budget restraints enter then the figure would be dropping even further down to $1.2 billion or around a 40% cut while the development of space technology would only take a hit of about $125 million.

While the committee's press release has claimed that the bill received widespread support, at the same time it has been facing its share of criticism.

On the website, the Planetary Society called the bill 'flawed', stating, 'Obviously, the cuts to Earth Science make this a hard bill to support, therefore The Planetary Society cannot support the full bill as written at this early stage'.