End of the Space Shuttle Program: An American Financial Voyage

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is perhaps the most well known space agency in the world. Since its formation in 19581, it has pioneered in space science, yet is also renowned for its large budget. NASA has the highest budget of any space agency, $18.6 billion2 in 2015, the equivalent of every American paying $54 towards the agency3, meaning 0.14% of total GDP is spent on NASA3 . This money is spent on the ISS, sending astronauts, probes and satellites into space, astrophysics and planetary science research, maintaining and developing NASA’s space telescopes (the Wide Field Infrared Survey telescope searching for dark energy and exoplanets, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope) and developing spacecraft2. Space exploration is an incredibly expensive process with one shuttle launch costing $450 million4 however NASA’s colossal budget benefits the USA greatly; the agency employs 18,000 people5 as astronauts, engineers, scientists and teachers and G. Scott Hubbard, former director of the NASA Ames Research Center estimates that every dollar spent on NASA returns $8 to the economy6.While this figure is an estimate, it demonstrates NASA’s worth and capacity for money making. NASA works on pioneering research and as its patents and licenses return to the US treasury, it

In the past 50 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent out many planned space exploration missions which have lead to numerous advantages in society and culture. NASA’s technologies benefit American lives with the innumerable important breakthroughs by creating new markets that have spurred the economy and changed countless lives in many ways. NASA is a federal agency and receives its fundings from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress. However, there are conflicting opinions that consider whether or not funding for NASA is a waste of government spending.

As President Eisenhower once stated, “Every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed” (qtd in DeGroot). According to Jerry DeGroot, a lecturer in the Department of Modern History at the University of St. Andrews and author of the widely acclaimed biography “Douglas Haig”, every year, the United States federal government funds the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with over $17 billion. When Keith Yost, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was asked about government funding on NASA, he replied, “NASA is not only spending money, but also the sweat of our laborers, the genius of our scientists, and the hopes of our children.” As a powerhouse in the work industry, NASA is taking away from the remainder of the country. Before venturing off into space, the US needs to realize the importance of tackling the issues that lie before the citizens here on Earth. As Richard Truly, a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, stated in agreement, “...I didn’t go to NASA for the United States to make international commitments that wouldn’t keep, to design space vehicles that will never be built (or will be then fail), or to make promises to the American people that will never be kept.” It would be in the best interest for the citizens of the United States federal government to cut NASA funding.

America’s funding for NASA during the space race in 1966 was 4.41% of the federal budget yet in modern times this expenditure has fallen to only 0.5% of the federal budget. One might ask why, but the greater question is why isn’t anything being done about this dearth of funding for NASA. America should once again fund the exploration of space with a renewed ferocity because of the various educational, economical, and technological benefits of having well-funded space agencies.

America’s space program is undoubtedly one of its greatest modern achievements. Few people cannot recall the famous quote “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” or do not know where it came from. The story leading up to the moment a man walked on the moon, as well as everything that came after, is just as interesting and important as the moment itself. The significance of the history of America’s aeronautics programs cannot possibly be overestimated, and their story is one that is incredibly important to the modern world of today. It would not be the nation that it is, with the technology it possesses, without its crucial involvement in the “space race”. If the technology that sent a man to the moon did not exist, our daily lives would be impacted and basic tools would be missing. Beginning with America’s first official aeronautics organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (or NACA) and continuing through to the present day and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or NASA), the story of America’s aerospace programs is interesting and extremely important. It is a story that spans many years and giant leaps in technology, and involves important locations like Wallops Flight Facility and Kennedy Space Center. From the early beginnings of NACA and Wallops, and continuing on to the rise and success of NASA and Kennedy Space Center, aeronautics

Perhaps no greater tragedy defines the American Race for Space than the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger before millions of Americans as they watched on live TV in 1986. Building on two decades of successful space exploration kicked off by President Kennedy before his death, by the early eighties the American culture both believed that it was our right to fly into space and that no one did it better than we did. NASA had sent mission after mission into space over more than twenty years, each one accomplishing space exploration goals and building the reputation that America owned the stars. That day in January of 1986 was supposed to be another of those successes as the Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying not only professional astronauts into space but also one everyday person, teacher Christa McAuliffe. Instead, the world watched as after seventy-three seconds after liftoff hopes and dreams exploded with the Challenger - leaving astronauts dead, the space program in jeopardy and America grieving and looking for answers. How leadership responded, what they said and did, would be really important to how the nation dealt with the loss and to the future of the space program. The man for the job was President Ronald Reagan, whose address to the nation appealed to the public on an emotional and logical level and helped to ensure that they

In July of 1958, President Eisenhower passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik nine months earlier. That administration, now known worldwide as NASA, has become an icon of space exploration and mankind's accomplishments. Who would have thought that fifty years later, NASA's future would be so uncertain? Congress has recently proposed a bill that would significantly cut funding from the NASA's Constellation program. These budget cuts are unnecessary and are counterproductive to the original idea of the space program.

The concept of space exploration was first introduced to the American public in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy famously stood before congress and vowed that America would put a man on the moon “within the decade.” With hopes of defeating the Soviet Union in the “Space Race” and gaining a leg-up in the Cold War, NASA funding reached its all-time high in 1965-1966 when about four percent of the federal budget was devoted to exploring space. Since then however, funding dedicated to exploring space has nose-dived to about one-half of a percent of the federal budget (Tyson), with plans to cut that figure by an additional $260 million in 2017 (cite NASA funding cuts). Experts in the space-sciences field argue that increased funding in space exploration would re-ignite the American economy and return America to the scientific prominence it was once known for, while, on the other end of the spectrum, naysayers suggest that exploring space is an economic sink-hole that the United States can no longer afford to deposit to given its own earth-bound troubles.

“NASA estimates that the average space shuttle mission costs $450 million. Space.com says it's closer to $1.6 billion. Either way, any sort of delay or slip-up costs taxpayers millions.” says Business Insider. Many people believe that The Space Race was not worth the money

The authors Pielke R. Jr and Byerly R. of the article “Shuttle Programme Lifetime Cost”, discuss in detail the amount of money it takes for NASA to launch a Space Shuttle. I found in this document, how much the Space Administration spent for each separate Space Shuttle launch. “During the operational years from 1982 to 2010, the average cost per launch was about $1.2 billion. Over the life of the programme, this increases to about $1.5 billion per launch”(p. 38). This source brought a new perspective into my thought process about how costly the space programs can be. The authors of the article presented the information though graphs as well, which I intend to include in my final research paper. This source also had me eager to look up how much the National Government has funded NASA over the past years.

“Space, the final frontier (Wise, Star Trek)” The goal of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (Star Trek). Since the moon landing in 1968, the federal government has consistently decreased funding for space exploration, with the exception of a small increase in the 1980’s to accommodate the shuttle program. If NASA was shut down entirely the last 60 years will have been a waste. Without this program, the development of life-saving, earth-saving, and space exploration technologies would not be possible. NASA leads the world in space exploration and aeronautics engineering, helps maintain healthy

National Aeronautics and Space Administration also known as (NASA), was created in the year 1958. It is the leading co-operation in the scientific research, science technology, and the public’s interest in the aerospace technology. Also, since space exploration, it has taught people how to view the world, ourselves as human beings, and the universe in a new and more theoretical way. With that being said, Discovery has been one of the most phenomenal and successful Space Shuttles, after the most tragic and disastrous outcomes of the Space Shuttles Columbia, and Challenger. As I continue in my paper, I will discuss three landmarks events that I found intriguing to me and will later elaborate on the research that I have found about each specific

The world today revolves around technology and is in an ever upward spiraling path of new advancements. This path is now at what some people call the “final frontier”, or the space age. The discoveries being made on this front are overwhelming in comparison to the technology that the world had only twenty years ago. Space exploration was once left up to the governments, as they battled to be the first country in space, but with national debts raising and the cuts made in response, space exploration is beginning to become new grounds for private business owners. Private companies are already beginning to send off rockets at a fraction of the cost that government does, but if more money was put into the government space program, then they

From 1981 to 2011, the Space Shuttle Program dominated human space exploration for the United States, but since March 2011, NASA had no way to put astronauts into orbit. For this reason, the ending of the Space Shuttle Program was faced with a lot of criticism as NASA depended on Russia to get humans to the International Space Station. In the last few months, NASA has been taking major steps in the production of its new rockets, which they plan to use to send astronauts into deep space. This is part of the Journey to Mars incentive which plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

In June of 1974, the Soviet Union’s approval was given to begin the Reusable Space System (MKS). The project eventually came to be known as Buran, the name of the first shuttle built for the program. Buran was originally created to rival the technology of the United States at the time. Although the Soviet Union seemed to surpass the U.S. in early space exploration milestones such as the launch of the first satellite, the first probe to reach the moon, and the first man to orbit the Earth in space, they quickly fell behind as the U.S. economy became more successful and the Cold War reached its peak. This paper aims to explain firstly the purpose of the Buran Shuttle Program and also why it came to an end before it really even had a chance to begin. Where the shuttles are now and whether they can be repurposed will also be analyzed. A key factor in understanding what happened to Buran lies in the Cold War and the end of the Soviet Union. According to aerospace engineer, Jeff Scott, the Buran Shuttle Program may have even contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 (Scott, Jeff. (2010, Oct). Soviet Buran Space Shuttle. Retrieved from http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/q0153.shtml). This aspect will also be explored in this report as well as the implications that this has for the current and future aerospace industries of the US and Russia alike.