National Aeronautics And Space Administration's (NASA)

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 addition, the Soviets greatest accomplishments were in the participation in the Space Race. The Soviets successfully launched Sputnik the world's first artificial satellite, October 4, 1957 (Doc F). These achievements showed the world how technologically advanced the Soviets where. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth (Doc F). Valentina Tereshkova became the first women in space (Doc F), and Laika was the first dog in space (Doc F). The Soviet accomplishments will be engraved into Soviet textbooks, but memorialized in human history as

NASA is a United States government agency that specializes in space exploration and extraterrestrial monitoring. In past years, the funding for this agency has been lowered in order to better fund other areas such as medicare and medicaid. For the past 50 years, this

“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.

The year after the launch of Sputnik, “President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating NASA,” a federal space agency dedicated to space exploration. This launch ushered in military developments, so many space programs were created to utilize the military potential of space. NASA has contributed much to the space programs while creating project Apollo. After the launch of Sputnik “NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent” while the budget increased by this massive amount, NASA’s lunar landing program

"The entire earth is but a point and the place of our own habitation but a minute corner of it". This quote is not attributed to an esteemed astronomer, nor is it the mantra of a well-known philosopher. These were the words of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, circa 170 AD. The yearning to understand that which exists beyond the human perspective is engraved throughout history. From stargazers to navigators, priests to scientists, the trend is evident. But, in light of recent events and advancements, the need for humans in space has appeared to dwindle. With technology as it stands today, unmanned missions have become increasingly prevalent. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) has run multiple unmanned missions with great

Elon Musk, Esquire.com’s 37th most influential person, says, ”Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond our little blue mud ball—or go extinct.” (“Elon Musk - Entrepreneur on the grandest scale”). If this statement about the future of the human race isn’t absolutely terrifying then a reevaluation of your major concerns is necessary because you are missing the ingrained human instinct of survival. While the impending doom of Earth and everyone on it should be an issue of the utmost importance, the voting population and Congress of the United States seem to disagree. This opinion is apparent when looking at the funding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA. The $18.01 billion budget was approved by Senate for the fiscal year of 2015 and although this is an enormous amount of money, it is only 0.46% of the $3.90 trillion annual expenses of the US federal government (“Fiscal Year 2015 Budget of the U.S. Government” 174). Obviously there is more important uses of the budget than funding space exploration, but sadly, this is not always the case. The Citizens Against Government Waste creates a yearly “Prime Cut” report that details largely ineffective government programs that could be eliminated. This year’s report suggests a possibility of around $648 billion in savings for 2015. A few examples of these suggested cuts involve the $1.1 million funding for USAID staff parties, incredibly wasteful loans and grants for utilities such as

Once upon a time there was a kid named Weasel. It was winter with a lot of snow

Our government has hundreds of agencies and each agency should justify one of the six Parts of the Preamble in our Constitution; form a more perfect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defense, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. One agency our government created is National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). NASA’s mission is to discover, study and research space. They send satellites to space to study Earth and other planets. NASA has sent 6 astronauts to live in space on the International Space Station. There they are able to do research and experiments that can’t be done on Earth. They also

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is a United States government agency that is responsible for science and technology related to air space. Space age started in 1957 with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and NASA was created in 1958. NASA was created to oversee U.S. space exploration and aeronautics research. NASA’s purpose today is to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind. NASA mainly sends astronauts to orbit conduct scientific research, and many other things help scientists today better understand space. Satellites help scientists learn more about Earth and pace probes study the solar system and beyond that. Today NASA is working

There are many action movies that grab the audience attention, but later on realize the negligent science that was presented. The 1998 movie, Armageddon is a great example. “The premise of the movie is that a giant asteroid is going to hit the Earth and wipe out all life” (Phil Plate). As I watched the movie, an asteroid is headed to Earth, and is told that this was the Dinosaur Killer 65 million years ago. It was stated that the force was “10,000 nuclear weapons” as it exploded. If it were to be calculated it would be a lower force. It should be expected to move approximately 11 kilometers per second, which is believed to be minimum speed. “Astronomers have known for the better part of a year that asteroid 2012 DA14—a medium sized, 150 ft (50 m) rock weighing 143,000 tons—was closing in on us. They knew that it would miss us too, by 17,200 miles (27,700 km)”

Many see space exploration as a task that only the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) can pursue. Yet, critics complain about the lack of funding and growth that NASA and many other government-regulated space exploration organizations have accomplished. Recent developments in the private space industry have proven to be hopeful. Significant leaps and bounds have been made by several companies and progress is continuously being made because of them. These companies include: SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Boeing, and many more. Each has a mission that is slightly different from the others, whether it be deep space exploration, tourism, or even building a telescope. The private space industry is on the rise, and while this industry

Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by the wonders of Space. Questions of our existence and possibilities of life in outer space have not only got the attention of philosopher and scientist but also fascinated curious general population like us. Even today, amazing images of distant stars and galaxies captured by Hubble’s telescope amuses us. From the dawn of human civilization, people tried to explore space and life in nearby galaxies and exoplanet. National Aeronautics and Space Administration commonly called as ‘NASA’ is a government agency that is held responsible for the space program and aerospace research. Since its establishment in 1958, NASA, have accomplished various monumental goals like sending the first man to the

In 1990, NASA launched a device that was designed to explore our galaxy non-stop. This device is known as the Hubble Space Telescope. It takes a considerable amount of effort to operate the telescope. Everything that runs the Hubble Space Telescope is controlled from the ground at Goddard Space Flight Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Both of these facilities are charged with running, updating, and monitoring all activities of the Space Telescope. The telescope requires it to be updated frequently so they must conduct Hubble Servicing Missions (hubblesite). The main purpose of the telescope is to monitor activities that happen throughout space. The telescope is very valuable and the time allotted to each international scientist is very short. Each year over 1,000 requests are made to observe different aspects if space with the telescope and only 200 are accepted (hubblesite). To use the Hubble Space Telescope is a complicated task. When scientists are ready to view what they are searching for, the engineers have to manipulate the telescope in a way that allows them to capture the image as the telescope orbits Earth at 17,500 mph (28,200 kph). They also have to take into account the speed at which Earth travels around the Sun, which is 67,000 mph (107,800 kph). “Guide Stars” are used to

Sergei Korolev is the man responsible for the first human spaceflight. Although the world knew of his achievements - Sputnik, Vostok, Soyuz - the man himself remained a total mystery until his death, as his identity was a well-kept state secret. To build on this resounding success with Sputnik 1, in less than one month Korolev and his team designed a second satellite. On 3 November, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and before the first (failed) US attempt to launch a satellite, Sputnik 2 was launched. On board was the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth. Korolev and the R-7 rapidly scored yet more firsts: the first probe to the Moon, the first picture of the far side of the Moon and the first probes to