Ledyard King and Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY NETWORK 4:51 p.m. CT June 9, 2017

Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., right, questions NASA administrator Robert Lighfoot Thursday about space programs.(Photo: Deborah Barfield Berry/USA TODAY)

WASHINGTON Rep. Steven Palazzo praisedNASA's moveaway from studying the Earth andinstead focusingresources on the rest of the universe.

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday, the Mississippi Republican applauded the agency for proposing to eliminate five Earth science missions designed to measure a number of global warming factors such as ocean ecosystems and carbon levels. President Trump's proposedbudget also would cut fundingfor Earth research grants and would terminate the Carbon Monitoring System, a project that NASA developed in 2010 in response to congressional direction.

Republicans, including Palazzo, have long complainedthe Obama administration diverted too many of NASAs limited resources pursuing climate change data when other agencies were conducting similar inquiries.

I do think its important to be focusing on planetary sciences,Palazzo said at a hearing Thursday ofthe House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. Looking out theres already over a dozen agencies that study our Earth, but theres only one agency tasked with space exploration and thats NASA."

With limited funds, flat funding and budgets, I think our resources are better spent exploring the deep space," he said.

Not that NASA is getting out of the business of Earth science completely.

Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot told two House committeesThursday there are 20 other Earth science missions NASAstill plans to conduct.

Theres a lot of analog to learning about Earth and how it plays with the other planets because Earth is a planet as well and how Earth evolves we learn a lot. on what can happen to Mars, what can happen to Venus," Lightfoot told Palazzo during an afternoon hearing. There is a value for us in learning about Earth as well. But I understand your point."

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In March, Palazzo, former chairman of the House Space Subcommittee, joined other lawmakers at the White House when Trump signed a $19.5 billion billto fund NASA programs. Palazzo, whosedistrict is home to Stennis Space Center,was instrumental in helping craft the bill.

Palazzo,who has pushed for a return-to-the-moon mission,questioned Lightfoot Thursday about whether the nation could put a man back on the moon and eventually Mars.

Lightfoot said the agencys goal of sending a humanto Mars by 2033 remains on track despite concerns raised about future funding and independent assessments that suggest such a mission is unlikely without a sizable, long-term increase in funding.

Its kind of a stepping-stone approach," he said.

Lightfoot told lawmakers the $3.9 billion in the budget proposal for human exploration would allow NASA to continue developing its two key pieces of hardware: the Orion vehicle that will carry astronauts into deep space and the Space Launch System rocket that Orion will ride on past the moon and towardMars.

Both systemsare scheduled to be tested: first, in an uncrewed flight in 2019, then with astronauts into lunar orbit, no later than 2023.

The budget we proposed has got the systems we need in 2018 to keep making the progress we think we need, Lightfoottold members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

But some Republicans had issues with the proposal, including Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who questioned the elimination of the education office when Lightfoot came before members of theAppropriations subcommittee.

The education programshopefully have been spreading the word about NASAs (accomplishments), Rogers told Lightfoot. Icant understand why you would want to cut that."

The administrator said NASA is trying to weave education outreach and promote space careers into other areas.

I dontdeny that the (education) programs have been pretty successful for us but we felt like in the balance of things we could do this more effectively in a different way, he said.

Follow Deborah Barfield Berry on Twitter at @dberrygannett.

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Palazzo applauds NASA focus on planets - Jackson Clarion Ledger