--- title: Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat description: Ahead of an eventual mission to Mars canonical: https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-30T19:27:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:40.114Z article:section: Science og:title: Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat og:description: Ahead of an eventual mission to Mars og:url: https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat twitter:description: Ahead of an eventual mission to Mars twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME Raw: Astronauts Conduct Emergency Spacewalk [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Astronauts Conduct Emergency Spacewalk](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7JxTz2yY.m3u8) (0:57)  _Published 2015-12-21. http://time.com/4156552/astronauts-conduct-emergency-spacewalk-on-space-station/_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 30, 2015 7:27 PM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 30, 2015 7:27 PM UTC NASA received $55 million from Congress to [develop living quarters for future missions into deep space.](http://spacenews.com/spending-bill-to-accelerate-nasa-habitation-module-work/) The 2016 government appropriations bill supports the space agency’s efforts to develop a habitation augmentation module, _Space News_ reports. NASA intends to develop a more comfortable living facility for astronauts who will embark on long journeys into deep space, specifically Mars, where officials hope to go in the 2030s. “NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018,” a report accompanying the spending bill says. The space agency has not provided exact details for the habitation module, but it has awarded contracts to several outside companies under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP program. Work completed independently by the contractors, will inform what NASA does on their own. \[[_Space News_](http://spacenews.com/spending-bill-to-accelerate-nasa-habitation-module-work/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/"},"headline":"Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat","datePublished":"2015-12-30T19:27:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:40.114Z","description":"Ahead of an eventual mission to Mars","url":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/","keywords":["Space","NASA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/","name":"Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Astronauts Conduct Emergency Spacewalk","description":"http://time.com/4156552/astronauts-conduct-emergency-spacewalk-on-space-station/","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7JxTz2yY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-21T18:47:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7JxTz2yY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```