Public Money Should Cut Down Expenses For Space Exploration

Man’s curiosity for the environment that surrounds him fuels the ambition to explore past the realms of his being. The space race marked the first time homo sapiens were able to escape and extend their biosphere. This age is filled with technological advancement. The space race gave the ability for a new age of technological advancements to occur. Almost every technological device that is produced or owned by people in the 21st century world contains technology that was invented or derived from the space race. Technology is the product of modernization and industrialization. Society is forced to make adjustments in social, economic and political institutions as humans continue to progress. The results and the success of the space race was and still is a great triumph for mankind. However, the motive for the United States and the Soviet Union for reaching space is not explicit. Although the space race and the resulted technological innovations in science had elements that benefited human progress in a substantial manner, the general motive for the space race lies within the political aspect of society and the repercussions that came with the cold war.

How would you like to explore a never-ending frontier filled with endless potential and possible benefits for humankind? When put this way, space exploration sounds like an enticing adventure. However, is it all that it’s chalked up to be? We’re here to answer that question. There’s a specific issue that we need to consider when referring to space exploration; should we continue to fund NASA? We acknowledge that some people may already have strong opinions on this, and we ask you to keep an open mind and try to avoid bias. After all, we’re discussing our future.

The space race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that occurred during the Cold War. They competed for dominance in space technology and spaceflight, which spurred many significant inventions and events. Some of these inventions and events include the first-ever landing on the moon, the first artificial satellite to be launched into the Earth’s orbit, the establishment of NASA, the invention of the microprocessor computer, the invention of satellite communication technology, and other direct and indirect impacts. Each of the different events and inventions that spawned from the space race have had significant impacts on the United States economy.

NASA has widespread economic benefits in the economy that far outweigh the amount of money spent on NASA. It is estimated for every $1 spent by NASA, this adds $10 to the United States economy. NASA creates many new transformative effects on the entire economy. Much of the economy is dependent on the internet, and the communication of information through satellites. These products can be used by any company to jumpstart their growth and in turn the economy’s growth. A study on 15 companies that were awarded $64 million in contracts by NASA were found to have benefits that totaled over $1.5 billion and the contracts stimulated the companies to spend a total of $200 million on additional R&D (Hertzfeld). Skeptics say that if the government spent this money directly on the economy by stimulating companies then the economy would grow faster and there would be a greater amount of money going into the economy in the first place. But the part that these skeptics forget is that NASA creates many jobs and invents many new technologies that have redefined the international economies.

“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 NASA Space Program is one of the most, if not, the most known space program that is currently active. One of the most successful projects was the “Space Race”. In this essay I will discuss what happened on the political side, the economical side, and the social/public side of this event and race to beat and get ahead of Russia and their launch of Sputnik 1.

Despite that during the space race many thought that the monetary investment in space would not yield any achievements, they could not have been more wrong. In the article “Space Race”, of the 1965 New York Times, the author writes… “In the USSR - as everywhere else - there are great unmet needs to which at least some of the billions spent on space research could be more usefully diverted. In the Soviet Union, no less than in the United States, it is a distorted priority system that puts such prestige feats in space so far ahead of the real needs on earth” (The Space Race). However, what this author did not realize was that despite the appearance that the billions going to space research did not affect life on earth, but was only to prove superiority over the Soviet Union, it eventually improved life for everyone through the expansion of technology in everyday

The Space Race was one of the biggest rivalries between America and the Soviet Union in the 1950’s to the 1970’s. The Space Race was part of something bigger, the Cold War. The Cold War was a time of political and military tension after World War 2, between different powers all over the world, but mainly between the U.S and the Soviet Russia. When people think of the Cold War, one of the many things that come to mind is the Space Race. In this essay I will write mainly about the Space Race and how both countries spent time and money building rockets and other devices. I will also talk about the steps it took to make it to the Moon. And lastly, the effects it had on American politics.

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

Space exploration funding has been drastically reduced since the conclusion of the Space Race. Even though the Space Race is no longer relevant, it has positively affected human civilization, and we should continue to invest in space exploration to continue this trend. The first and primary reason we should continue to work with space is to aid industries on earth. Most notable is the use of satellites for purposes such as commercial communications, the GPS system, and meteorology. The second reason is because humans have an inherent hunger for knowledge, and space funding helps us develop technology for seeing what’s beyond earth. Space probes such as New Horizons and telescopes such as the James Webb Telescope have expanded our knowledge

“Sputnik marked the beginning of the "space race," a period of nearly twenty years during which fierce US and Soviet competition spurred both countries to make rapid progress in aeronautic engineering,” (Lee). This period of time birthed a new program from the American government, called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. NASA has been building rockets, training astronauts, and studying space for the benefit of science, the government, and the people of America since 1958. Unfortunately, many people don't realize how important NASA is, and there have been efforts made to stop the government from funding NASA. This program is essential for increasing knowledge of outer space, protecting planet Earth, and creating

Space exploration was born out of the intense competition between the two great superpowers of the 20th century. The space race was a byproduct of the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both sides devoted immense resources and manpower to attempt to surpass the other in astronautical achievement. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the approach towards space exploration changed dramatically. What began as a fierce competition between major powers became a partnership involving many nations working together. Space exploration projects, like the International Space Station, are only feasible through international joint effort, and because of this have helped to foster more cooperative relations between countries – not only diplomatically, but also economically.

In conclusion, the government needs to remain the use of its space program.There are many jobs in the space program. Eventually the basic necessities like food, water, and a place to live will be hard to come by. For the amount of pollution that is on the planet, the population does not have many options when thinking about how will future generations survive. As well as

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

You hear a lot of people saying that space research is cool but it is typically a waste of money and valuable resources that could be used to benefit our own planet and the many problems that we have all over earth today. But I completely, one hundred percent agree on the further exploration of space for different reasons such as: we are living in a virtual age where everything is done with smart phones and computers and physical exploration is much needed. Second it can actually help the economy in multiple ways not just waste money. Lastly It also guarantees the development of good technology, not only with companies, but among the younger people who need to be inspired through the educational systems we have in America.