My main interest in writing a research paper about space sparked from the retirement of the Space Shuttle, in which thousands of workers lost their jobs and other individuals where forced to move away to different locations across the United States to find work. I will be focusing on the obstacles that National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA) and Kennedy Space Center are presented with from the view points of many different angles. I have discovered many interesting facts and sources regarding my topic and realize that there is still so much to be learned. My search begins with an article concerning the budget situation out at Kennedy Space Center. The first article of the budget confliction can be seen in the News of the Week: …show more content…
The authors Pielke R. Jr and Byerly R. of the article “Shuttle Programme Lifetime Cost”, discuss in detail the amount of money it takes for NASA to launch a Space Shuttle. I found in this document, how much the Space Administration spent for each separate Space Shuttle launch. “During the operational years from 1982 to 2010, the average cost per launch was about $1.2 billion. Over the life of the programme, this increases to about $1.5 billion per launch”(p. 38). This source brought a new perspective into my thought process about how costly the space programs can be. The authors of the article presented the information though graphs as well, which I intend to include in my final research paper. This source also had me eager to look up how much the National Government has funded NASA over the past years. Researching the topic of NASA’s budget presented alarming evidence about the shrinking government funding that the agency receives. According to “NASA Budget”, published in 2012, the following monetary amounts show the decrease in the amount of funding the National Government is providing NASA “$553.8 million in fiscal 1995, $155.5 million in fiscal 1996, $131.7 million in fiscal 1997, $61 million in fiscal 1998, $51.3 million in fiscal 2000, $10.8 million in fiscal 2004”. The article shows how the funding drastically decreased over a series of nine years. The source gives a different perspective, not from an individual that works out at
During these times, the U.S. government invested over 4.5 percent of the Federal Budget into NASA’s programs. However, since NASA’s Cold War glory days, the budget has dropped from 4.5 percent of the total budget in the 1960s, to less than 0.45 percent today, which is its lowest rate ever
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
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.
President Ronald Reagan inherited the space policy of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter and was not satisfied with its current objectives and lack of direction (Logsdon, 1995). He put together a transition team to draft a new chapter for NASA which was left in an “untenable position” by Carter’s lack of direction for the agency. The NASA transition team leader, George Low, remarked that NASA can be “the best in American accomplishment and inspiration for all citizens” (Logsdon, 1995). The team provided input to Reagan that would drive space policy during his eight year tenure.
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
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
By using extensive internet based research, I plan to investigate the decrease in NASA’s funding. My primary question is; why is the U.S. government reducing the funds? and why are they saying they can't afford it?. When in reason I think they chose not to. I think NASA should be viewed as an investment, because it does not drain nearly enough money as it contributes. NASA pays for itself, they give us inventions that can apply to our daily lives, and with enough research we may be mining asteroids or pure limitless solar energy in the future, but most of all they give our species itself a way forward.
For the social science lens, we will be looking at the shift in the economics for space exploration in the recent years.
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 purpose for President John F. Kennedy’s putting a man into space and developing a national space organization was “national prestige” (Compton). Russian had already taken leaps ahead of us in the exploration of space by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite and the success of Yuri Gagarin being the first human to journey into outer space (Doran). Kennedy also fulfilled the role of a true leader by giving the county direction in the form of a difficult and worthy goal. Subsequently, the space race had begun and the entire county had become spectators.
The first reason why the government should remain the use of its space program is the jobs that come along with the program. From engineers to scientist there are many jobs that correlate with the space program.”It is important to remember that the $2.5 billion investment made in this project was not spent on Mars, but right here on Earth, supporting more than 7,000 jobs in at least 31 states.” (Bolden, Charles.) Even though the unemployment rate is not as high as expected, if this program was cut the rate would grow immensely.
“Space, the final frontier (Wise, Star Trek)” The goal of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (Star Trek). Since the moon landing in 1968, the federal government has consistently decreased funding for space exploration, with the exception of a small increase in the 1980’s to accommodate the shuttle program. If NASA was shut down entirely the last 60 years will have been a waste. Without this program, the development of life-saving, earth-saving, and space exploration technologies would not be possible. NASA leads the world in space exploration and aeronautics engineering, helps maintain healthy
The concept of space exploration was first introduced to the American public in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy famously stood before congress and vowed that America would put a man on the moon “within the decade.” With hopes of defeating the Soviet Union in the “Space Race” and gaining a leg-up in the Cold War, NASA funding reached its all-time high in 1965-1966 when about four percent of the federal budget was devoted to exploring space. Since then however, funding dedicated to exploring space has nose-dived to about one-half of a percent of the federal budget (Tyson), with plans to cut that figure by an additional $260 million in 2017 (cite NASA funding cuts). Experts in the space-sciences field argue that increased funding in space exploration would re-ignite the American economy and return America to the scientific prominence it was once known for, while, on the other end of the spectrum, naysayers suggest that exploring space is an economic sink-hole that the United States can no longer afford to deposit to given its own earth-bound troubles.
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.
With the threat of Congress cutting NASA 's budget, the United State 's sixty year preeminence in space exploration is in serious peril..