It's Earth Day, and NASA is hoping to spread awareness about the work the agency does to help people better understand the world.
But members of Congress are criticizing NASA, stating the space agency should be focused on human space exploration instead of studying climate change.
At an Earth Day event over the weekend in Washington, D.C., NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told the crowd the work NASA does is a key to understanding climate change.
"We want to know how our planet works and how we affect it and how it might change in the future," Bolden said.
Republican lawmakers argue NASA shouldn't be conducting the science for other agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency. Members of Congress are concerned that too many federal resources are being used to study climate change.
Lawmakers said NASA should be more focused on returning humans to space from Florida.
Some members of Congress are not pleased with the White House and NASA requesting a $175 million increase in earth sciences while cutting funding for the Orion and Space Launch System rocket in the 2016 fiscal year budget.
NASA leaders said studying Earth is critical. The agency has released several videos about the work they do to study the planet.
NASA has 20 spacecraft flying around Earth in an effort to detect carbon dioxide in the air, water reserves below the ground, the heat that Earth is absorbing and inside hurricanes.