The Pros And Cons Of Evaluating 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

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

According to a pie chart called, “Federal Spending for United States - FY 2015” from the NASA Data Charts, the budget for space in 2015 is not a percentage significant enough to have its own section. Instead, it is a subsection of the heading Other Spendings, which is given 2% of the federal budget. Also, in the Neil deGrasse Tyson article, it is said that the American government only gives a 7/10 cent of a tax dollar to space exploration (Tyson 2). He gives a brilliant resolution by saying, “ I’d prefer that it were more, perhaps 2 cents on the dollar.” even though we used to “. . . peak NASA spending amounted to no more than 4 cents on the tax dollar”. One of the most important technological advance was the invention of the Hubble Space

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the leading organizations in space technology and research. In the past 60 years, NASA has sent numerous satellites, telescopes and crew modules into space. Despite drawbacks in launch failures and lack of funding, NASA continues to focus on its mission in space exploration and technological advancement. One of NASA’s projects is to explore deep space, in which entails a manned missions to Mars, exploration of the asteroid belt, and beyond. With these goals in mind, NASA has engineered new rocketry and even created a program to better allocate costs of such conquests. With these new advancements, NASA has created a new age of how space travel is carried out.

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

It holds true that government organizations gradually decline; the enthusiasm is replaced with bureaucracy, employees are resistant to change and overall performance is decreased. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is no exception to this. NASA is an example of bureaucracy having a detrimental effect on an organization. The lines of communication became skewed and were often broken while the organization was locked in an internal battle over who exactly was in charge. While there were heads of each department and heads of each branch, critical information often slipped through the cracks. It was this breakdown in communication and the failure to address known issues that was the direct cause for both the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The explosions, though separated by seventeen years, were incredibly similar. Concerns had been brought to the table and similarly dismissed as “acceptable risk.” This acceptable risk proved fatal for the crews of both space shuttles. Bureaucracy and financial expediency led to reduced federal funding, general distrust from the public, and growing disinterest. The organization that sent men to the moon is vastly different than the organization in charge today. NASA’s beginnings were less clouded in red tape and bureaucratic policies. Ideas were

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

Carl Sagan once said “every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA, is executing Sagan’s words every day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower created NASA in 1958 with the purpose of peaceful rather than military space exploration and research to contribute to society. Just 11 years after the creation, NASA put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the first humans to

Space exploration has exploded in the past 56 years. From the first successful satellite mission in 1961, to the first mission space walk in 1969 a to the first time lettuce was grown and eaten in space in 2015. These are just the beginning steps towards potential space exploration and advancing technology to the maximum.

Perhaps the most significant impact of the space race came through education reform. At the beginning of the 1950s most americans had atleast a high school education. But education, especially in technical fields was not seen as overly important or necessary. After all, the United States was built on farming and factory work, jobs that don’t require advanced schooling. After the second world war however the game changed. There was a sort of technical renaissance which

The impossible was reached on July 20th 1969 when we sent the first man on the moon. The Apollo missions are the largest and most well known explorations that NASA has conducted. Ever since we reached this new high, our curiosity of space has grown even bigger. Funding NASA’s space program even further will continue to help us amplify our available resources and discover new information to benefit humanity. Not only that, but it could provide many ways for us to find a new home and expand our species farther into our solar system, potentially saving future generations. The expansion of this space program would be able to answer more of our questions than from what we can find here on Earth. Although there

NASA themselves have not only contributed to exploring the vast, empty, yet strangely amazing area we call space, but they have also created products that we use in everyday life. The unfortunate thing is that NASA is receiving less and less of the funding that it needs in order to continue to operate at its top level. What's worse is that more and more people feel that NASA shouldn't be getting what it is now either, that they could go on with less. So then the question that needs to be answered is “Why should we keep funding NASA?”

David J. Eicher, editor of Astronomy magazine, said,”The next time you reach for your phone, thank NASA. If your doctor recommends an MRI, thank NASA...And think of NASA when a smoke detector blares to save your life”(Leone). NASA has helped to advance technology and educate the human race ever since it was founded. NASA was there to protect humans and warn them of an asteroid that could have wiped out the human race, and even, most of the things people use everyday are thanks to NASA. If the government funds NASA, then we will push human knowledge and strive to learn more about space and continue to push technology’s borders. The government should fund NASA to extend our knowledge on space, keep Earth out of danger, and to encourage the study

Then it came time for the Apollo missions. Eleven manned launches into space, 6 of which landing on the moon, carried man farther than ever before. Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first in the series. Just 4 days before the launch, there was a problem. During a test flight, a fire broke out inside the sealed capsule from faulty wiring. The fire suffocated the 3 astronauts inside. NASA launched a full investigation (Aldrin 3). “It exposed deep flaws in our capsules and procedures”, said Gene Kranz, the retired chief flight director at NASA during the Gemini and Apollo missions (When).

Barbara Blake explains, every American on July 20, 1969, experienced the sight on their television of the first two men to ever step on the dry surface of the Moon. (1). America as a whole felt overwhelmed by the single thought of a man to touch the grounds of the Moon and proceeded the idea as a dream. Kennedy’s dream when he ran office focused on the space program to fly a man to the moon and bring him back safely. Kennedy’s dream became reality and his promise to the American people became fulfilled. Thanks to Kennedy for funding the space program and reaching the moon, paved way for NASA today to launch rockets, have advanced technology in the workplace, and always have men in space keeping track of the satellites. Rob Mead states, the Moon landing brought the World many technology devices, such as the satellite television, which astronauts used satellites to communicate with one another. (1). Many people own Satellite T.V. dishes and use the product on a daily all thanks to the impact of the space race. The World has come a long way from the 1960s and the Moon landing helped achieve technology advancements today. The World would feel lost and out of touch without television bringing a different variety of channels of entertainment. According to Blake Morrison, the Moon landing affected pop culture causing artists to write songs about the