Top Nasa official defends asteroid mission and Earth research to Congress

Charles Bolden countered criticism from House on agency's 'partisan environmental agenda' and 'uninspiring' space work at budget hearing

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's mission to land on an asteroid and its Earth science division both drew angry criticism from lawmakers on Thursday, as administrator Charles Bolden defended the agency on Capitol Hill.

At a House hearing on Nasa's 2016 budget, space subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith criticized what he called "the disproportionate increase" in funding for Earth science research, saying that over eight years almost $2bn had been added to its budget. Smith and other Republicans argued that Nasa should not devote so many resources to studying the climate when it could work on space.