NASA Budget

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“We start by increasing NASA’s budget by $6 billion over the next five years” – President Obama, 2010. Six billion. That’s 600,000,000,000 pennies, 16,000,000,000 quarters, or 99,128 Americans making the average US income of $60,528. It’s quite a lot of money, bringing the total budget NASA has to 18.4 billion. But that number is measly compared to 1200.7 billion that the US spends on the defense sector. Off the bat, an imbalance is noticeable In fact, it’s 99.5% noticeable. That’s because NASA’s current budget breakdown in compassion to all the other sectors the US government divides its budget up into is .5%. Its peak has only been at 4.41% of the budget, but this was only during a small period of time you may or may not have heard of called …show more content…

It was this day that the US lunched the last of the space shuttle fleet. From then on, we have had to rely on Russia for all of our space needs. While not only embarrassing, it’s also worrisome. While the US has been slowly dropping out of the space race, India has entered, in addition to China. India predicts that by 2015, it will place a man on the moon. One might scoff and say “We did that already, who cares?” but keep this in mind; out of all the countries that have undergone Mars programs, India is the only country who on their first try was successful. Backed by this knowledge, India plays a strong competitor in the race to Mars. The US on the other hand, with its current level of funding, will never be able to undertake an endeavor like a manned mission to Mars.
Apathy directed towards NASA, a lack of understanding of the benefits of a space program, and more tenacious matters all lead people to wonder if NASA is worth funding at all. That money could be better spent working on the economy, homelessness, or the housing market, right? Ask your average Joe on the street what he thinks, and nine times out of ten he will say it’s not important. You might even think the same …show more content…

They evolved from technology developed from the Apollo lunar program. Do you enjoy sleeping on that memory foam mattress (if you have one)? Created from technology designed to greatly improve crash protection for aircraft travelers. I bet you’re glad you didn't have to wear those revolting chain-link dental braces? The translucent material in invisible braces was developed by the armed forces in conjunction with NASA for tracking purposes. Enjoy running with your athletic shoes? The soles derive from moon boot components designed for shock retention. Happen to wear glasses by chance? They're scratch-resistant thanks in part to artificial diamond varnishes developed for aerospace systems. The list goes on, these are only a few NASA’s beneficence to society; appreciate NASA more now? You should.
Guess how many patents NASA has filed with the US government? Thousands. Some of the paramount discoveries and creations in human history were not a result of direct development, but rather were related to the development of other technologies and concepts. Backing a space program isn't just funding the assembly of spacecraft’s - it's funding invention

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