Space Exploration: Why Should We Keep Funding NASA?

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.

The public’s lack of knowledge about NASA’s research explains why many people believe that the organization is receiving too much funding. According to NASA.gov, the organization has received 19.3 billion dollars for the 2016 fiscal year. This equates to about 0.486% of the government budget. While this may seem like a lot, the percentage has drastically decreased over the past few decades by almost 3.5%. NASA is receiving “more money each year, but at the same time a smaller percentage of the federal budget” (Steinburg 240). There are projects that NASA is currently working on that they cannot finish due to lack of funding. If NASA can find a way to receive more funding, then not only can the organization capitalize on these current projects, but it can also open up discussion for future ones as well. The possibilities of what humans can achieve is endless, the only restrictions are time and money, two of the most important factors in society. While time can’t be controlled, money can. Now it’s just a matter of getting more of it, which is going to be hard for NASA to do, especially when people feel as though they are receiving too much funding.

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.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA for short, plays a necessary and vital role in human life. It provides economic stability for the country, the common-day luxuries we have all come to expect, medical discoveries and advances, an insurance policy for the planet, and fulfills mankind's eternal desire for exploration. Though there are many critics of the federally-funded space program, it indeed plays a central role in both the history and the future of the country.

However, NASA does not use as much money as you might think. According to the article NASA’s 2013 Budget Puts Brake On Planet Probes, NASA has a “17.7 billion” budget out of the total “3.7 trillion” federal budget spendings. 17.7 billion is very small compared to the total federal budget. This shows that the asteroid studies and other studies NASA is doing really do not cost that much.

In the 2017 fiscal year (Oct. 2016-Sept. 2017), the budget for NASA was 19 billion US dollars [1]. However, the total budget for the United States in 2017 is 3,650 billion US dollars [2] making the NASA budget only .52% of the United States budget for the 2017 fiscal year. Even though 19 billion US dollars seem like a large amount of money, in comparison to 1966, the height of the Apollo mission, the budget for NASA was 5.9 billion United States dollars [3] which was .83% of the National budget of 708 billion dollars [4]. Also, with the 122 million citizens [5] reported to pay federal taxes in the United States, each taxpayer only contributes about $12.98 a month to NASA, so if NASA were to disappear, the average taxpayer could afford

NASA’s budget in 2011 was $18.4 billion. That was about 0.5% of the US federal budget of $3.4 billion, in 2011. That may sound like a lot of money, but it is not. In 1966, NASA’s budget was $5.993 billion, or 4.41% of the US federal budget of $3.2

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration program has provided history with amazing moments such as when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.  The cost of NASA has also eaten up funds from other programs. Building a spaceship and rocket is a long process, and some question if it is worth the time. When the NASA program reaches its goal of landing on Mars, all of science will benefit from the mission. In order to advance science,Although it is slow and expensive, should NASA be given more money in order to advance science?

“If you want a nation to have space exploration ambitions, you’ve got to send humans” (Neil deGrasse Tyson). This quote means in order to have space exploration ambitions, you have to send humans to explore. As of 2011, NASA’s was funded $18.4 billion dollars. Now, people are starting to think if NASA should keep sending humans into space or not. The Obama Administration has announced they will cut NASA’s FY 2017 budget to $19 billion (http://www.universetoday.com/127309/nasa-2017-budget/). In my opinion, countries should continue sending people to space because it would help with defense and weather prediction, it may advance technological development, and it will allow the human population to sustain on Earth.

“Space is a $300 billion industry worldwide, NASA is a tiny percent of that. But that little bit is what inspires dreams.” – Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. NASA or The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is one of the more popular government funded programs. NASA has inspired whole generation to believe that they can do anything and continue to show kids that anything is possible. NASA currently has a budget of 19.3 billion dollars and coming 2017 it will be reduced to 19 billion dollars. NASA’s budget is usually slashed every few years because the government believes it is better spent elsewhere. I believe that NASA’s budget should be increased and here are three reasons why.

Everyone knows that NASA is capable of discovering and inventing new, majorly important technologies, like Velcro for example. But then again, why inconvenience hardworking taxpayers by spending tons of their money exploring outer space? To possibly uncover why there may have been water on The Red Planet thousands of years back when we have perfectly good water here on Earth at our disposal. These prodigious minds could very well be finding more efficient ways to satisfy humanity's unquenchable thirst for new, cheap energy forces or feeding the millions of children starving worldwide. Obviously they should pull their heads out of the clouds and focus on making life on Earth better before they focus all their attention on the heavens.

First of all, space exploration makes a lot of money and boosts the economy.Dr. Vernikos mentions this in her essay by giving this statistic:“In fact, the 2007 NASA budget of $16.3 billion is a minute fraction of the 13 trillion

Going to space and exploring other planets and areas in space has been something that really interests anyone. This is because exploration has been something everyone for the most part has participated in and loved doing because you are discovering new things you had no idea about before. If you think about it, exploration is the same concept as learning. When you explore you discover as well as when you learn you discover. Space exploration has helped this country more than you would think just from many technological advancements that came out from it. Most of which are items we use every single day and rely on so much. Some of these technological advancements go from the satellite television, laptops, fire detectors, all the way to telemedicine. These advancements that have come from the space race era is technology that has been very useful to society. This is technology that has saved many lives of Americans. The “reason” for lower and lower amounts of funding to NASA is because it costs too much money which would be valid argument if it were true but it’s not. Comparing the amount of money, we spend on space exploration is a lot but what comes from it makes it all worth it. We have discovered so many new inventions already so just imagine what more we could discover if we kept the funding NASA with enough money they could actually work with. Another great thing that comes with space exploration is competition. Competition is what makes us discover all these new

The US has a budget of $3.4 trillion dollars, $18.5 billion of those dollars goes towards funding and further researching space exploration such as NASA (Amadeo, 2016). Its a colossal amount of money but breaking it down, that is only 0.5% of the entire pie. You may be asking yourself; why this is such a big deal if its such a small fraction? Or simply why don’t we take someone else 's budget? What if you where told “ The answer to solving the world’s biggest problems is in the stars”(Garan, 2014).

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilisations; to boldly go where no man has gone before" (Star Trek). Back in the 60s, space travel was big. A few years after that man made it’s first step on the Moon. It was a massive advancement in science. It all started when President Eisenhower formed a group of highly trained individuals out of other groups, such as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, to try to out-science the Soviet Union in the space race. This group would come to be known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. NASA was not the first group to get a human into space, however they were the first, and only, group to put a man on the Moon. It was a great time for science. Fast Forward to the present day. NASA is still around, but it’s under extreme pressure. NASA hasn’t done much of anything as of recent. Because of that, quite a few people are skeptical over whether we should continue to fund NASA if they are just going to keep taking money and producing no profit from it. Others, however, argue that NASA is indeed still relevant and producing necessary advancements. The question is should the United States continue to find NASA? The answer isn’t overly clear. While NASA makes significant advances in science, they are also wasting significant sums of money that could be going towards better