The U.S. space program fared remarkably well in the huge appropriations bill just approved by Congress. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration got a hefty $16.2 billion budget for fiscal year 2005, only a tiny bit shy of what the administration had requested, and it was given unusual authority to shift money from one program to another. The agency clearly scored a budgetary coup in a year when most federal programs were ratcheted back to make room for the costly war in Iraq and to alleviate huge deficits. (Editorial).