Everyone knows that NASA is capable of discovering and inventing new, majorly important

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.

NASA states on their website “To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind. To do that, thousands of people have been working around the world -- and off of it -- for more than 50 years, trying to answer some basic questions. What's out there in space? How do we get there? What will we find? What can we learn there, or learn just by trying to get there, and all this will make life better here on Earth.” NASA’s vision is for the good. They want what is best for Earth and they want to advance Earth’s

Although it is true that there is no concrete outcome “for using taxpayer money” to fund space programs, it does not mean in any way that the money is not being used to help our society grow (Source H). The bulk of the money funded to space exploration goes towards the incomes of thousands of skilled employees who create such successful space missions. It can be assumed that less than one percent is being used from the federal dollar on manned space programs, as space exploration falls under the “All others” category which spends six percent of every federal tax dollar (Source C). Space exploration programs have the potential to discover new technologies and expand on what we have here on Earth, but in order to succeed, there needs to be slight altercations with how each federal tax dollar is spent. National defense gets nineteen percent of each federal tax dollar – a proportion that is too extraordinary considering the United States has access to a nuclear arsenal which is far less expensive and just as effective as maintaining conventional forces (Source C). The United States is pretty much the military for half the world, so instead of collecting all the money from our tax payers here in America, we should collect from other counties that we protect as

Billions of dollars go into space exploration projects every year. Some people feel that this money should be used to solve problems on Earth. All of the “NO” arguments come from people who seem to know nothing about space. First off, the most widely used argument that does not support space exploration is “We have too many problems on Earth, so why go into space?” This argument is definitely not appropriate. While there are many problems on Earth, a lot of them can be solved using the technologies that we develop for space exploration. For example, NASA helps on research into cancer and preventing, treating, and even curing it.

While many people support funding NASA and agree with the organization’s goals, there a good number of people who do not. A common reason for this is that they believe that the space program should focus on discovering things that can benefit us immediately, not in the future. This is a valid argument because there

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.

“There is perhaps no better a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.” Carl Sagan said this after seeing a picture of the Earth taken from the Voyager 1. In the image there is a tiny little speck that is barely noticeable unless it is pointed out. That little speck is our planet.Government spending on NASA has helped to achieve this and it allows us to see things about our universe that we would have never have had been able to see before. NASA funding can be beneficial because it shows us things about our universe that we have never known and things we would have never thought to explore.This is what NASA is trying to accomplish. However NASA funding can be detrimental because it costs more and more each year and it pushes us into even more debt than what we are already in. This can contribute to the downfall of the economy and the nation as a whole because of the increase in spending, and will lead to cuts in other more crucial parts of the government and the economy where the money would be better spent. Government funding for NASA is a benefit to society but, it is also a detriment to society as well.

Space has always been an unknown to the humanity, and therefore humanity has in insatiable desire to know as much as possible about the area beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Exploring space can lead to many new and exciting discoveries such as (see hubble, planets, kepler, moon rocks etc). When the United States first entered the realm of space in the [1960s], NASA had much funding. However, the motivation of this funding was not for science – it was political, as the government was determined to beat Russia in the Cold War Space Race. Today, as there is no political motivator as great as the Cold War, NASA is faced with a lack of funding and must make hard decisions. They must decide between the adventure and excitement of sending manned missions

Humans obsess over the exploration of the unknown. The majority of our vast solar system remains unexplored. Most humans don’t have an idea what could be waiting for us outside of our atmosphere. Nonetheless, space exploration is not necessary unless our world is either perfect or destroyed. There is no need to throw away billions of dollars on space exploration missions when there are other necessities that need to be sought to first.

Currently, an estimated half a million people in the United States have a job description that relates to space, and NASA is “the strongest power that provides jobs in the space industry” (Machay 128-9). Each of those citizens contributes their knowledge and money to the national economy. NASA also promotes job growth: “Giving $1 billion to NASA can create some 24,000 jobs via contracts to the private sector” (128). Those potential employees would provide diversity and experience that could only advance the country. Thus, removing NASA funding would potentially leave thousands unemployed, halt the growth of hundreds of jobs per year, and subsequently encumber the economy. It is nonsensical to damage the nation in this way in exchange for a small percentage of the federal budget, when NASA clearly has such as positive

Some say that spending money on NASA is pointless with no real benefit however, breakthroughs in medicine, industrial and consumer science, technology, and transportation have come from NASA’s abundance of research.

As can be seen in Figure A below, NASA’s costs were extremely low compared to almost every other government program. Fifty times more money is allocated to social and educational programs than to NASA, and two years of national military spending alone exceed all of the money received by NASA since its creation fifty years ago. Not only does the space program’s funding pale in significance to the cost of mass weapons of destruction, it is also a fraction of the money we spend on Hollywood movies, fast food wrapping, beauty products, and wasted electricity every year. At the moment, NASA’s annual budget could be paid by an insignificant contribution from every American’s tax dollar: half a penny (Tyson). How much would you pay to send people to Mars? How much would you pay to support the dreams of tomorrow?Space exploration has been an easy target for budget cuts, because it is often expensive and the benefits are not immediately obvious. At some point our nation began to care more about saving and cutting taxes than exploring the universe. However, NASA is one of the few large agencies America has that are dedicated to our long-term future; the benefits are real and worth funding. In addition, the US aerospace industry generally generates an annual profit of 30 billion, on top of providing jobs for thousands of skilled workers and new innovations in science and technology that promote economic growth (“Fiscal”). Epic space adventures

Has NASA really benefited any of us when $3 billion of taxpayer money? The annual of budget of NASA is $18.724 billion and that being used on golf-club testing and studies on how humans will react to meeting aliens. While these unnecessary projects are being held, millions of people are dying of diseases. That money could be used on books for classrooms, medicine for the sick, and food for the hungry. Space can hold many answers for many different problems, but if the money being used to send robots up to space can be used to help with the cure of diseases then why are not scientists being more intelligent with their spending? Why is the President giving NASA such a huge budget when it is being used on useless projects? Space can wait. NASA is using millions, even billions of dollars on visiting space to go into caves to explore. Yet, the discoveries that scientists are making have yet to help us. There are people starving in this world with no money and NASA is worried about sending a robot into outer space. Money and government leniency is an issue in America and no one seems to be

The National Aeronautics and Space Association costs roughly $17.001 billion a year to fund... That's about how much a brand new F35 Lightning II fighter costs the United States Military. The TARP Bank bailouts alone amounted to more money than NASA has received in its entire lifetime! Do you think NASA is deserving of more money? Most people would say no... However, with a budget amounting to only 1% of the money allotted to the Defense Industry each year, technological and medical advances, the general goal of advancing mankind as a species, and the attempts to make Earth a more human-friendly environment proves these protests false. Soviet Dominance in the 1950s However... Curiosity on Mars and returning to the Moon in 2018 require a lot of money. Little Congressional Support for NASA CA-D George Brown says: "A lot of people feel such projects can be canceled or postponed. This is not surprising in hard times. This scaling-back is likely to continue until there is an economic turnaround and an easing of the federal deficit.” On projects such as the International Space Station... Mission to Mars, 2030s, $23.5